Desktop Data Inc, the Waltham, Massachusetts company that developed NewsEdge, a real-time news information service for networked personal computers, has now opened a European office in London with the intention of bringing its news management service this side of the water. The privately held company says it has seen a 150% growth in users in the last 12 months, including one of its first European customers, Shell International NV. NewsEdge, a news-management service that carries news wires from 260 sources including Extel, Reuters, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, can be accessed via the NewsEdge Server running OS/2 2.1 or Windows NT. Individuals connected to the network can create a personal profile that avoids endless trawling through wires searching for specific relevant information. Users input the words they want to search on or the ticker symbol for the name of the company, and all relevant articles appear on the screen. A permanent window in the corner of the screen alerts the user when incoming news stories match the profile. The NewsEdge database stores up to 1m full text stories, which can then be cut and pasted into other applications for further examination or analysis. NewsEdge supports a variety of clients including OS/2 Presentation Manager, Sun Solaris and SunOS, HP-UX and Notes. Local network support includes NetWare, LAN Manager and LAN Server via external news feeds on leased lines, X25, FM radio sidebands and satellite delivery. According to Jon McNerney, director of European sales, NewsEdge delivers real-time information less expensively that has ever been done before. He estimates that for 100 users, NewEdge software would cost roughly $30,000 a year. Prices for news feeds were unavailable.
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