Fremont, California-based GRiD Systems Corp is this week demonstrating at the Comdex/Fall show in Las Vegas its 20MHz Intel 80386SL-based GRiDPadSL pen computer. The GRiDPadSL is designed to operate under Go Corp’s PenPoint operating system, Microsoft Corp’s Windows for Pen Computing and GRiD’s PenRight! environment for application-specific software. The GRiD computer has up to 20Mb RAM, 16Kb RAM cache and 60Mb hard disk drive for Windows for Pen Computing and PenPoint environments. The GRiDPadSL weighs in at under 5 lbs, with internal modem, ports and display. And GRiD says it will ship in December an internal 9,600bps V.32 data+fax modem for laptop and pen computers. The company claims the GRiD 9,600bps Data+Fax Modem provides the fastest data communications speed of any portable. It will be available for the GRiDPad pen computer and GRiDCase laptop line, including the 1550SX. The modem is said to cut modem telephone charges by up to 75% over that of 2,400bps modems. The CCITT V.32-compliant device includes the V.42bis four-to-one data compression feature which provides 38,400bps during file transfer. Battery life is extendable by powering down the modem when not in use. The device can act also as a sending and receiving 9,600bps Group III fax system. GRiD’s optional FaxTalk Plus software enables documents to be faxed directly from an application, obviating the need to print the document first then fax it from a stand-alone facsimile machine. Additionally, Alien Computing Corp’s FaxIt for Windows software, available from GRiD, enables faxes to sent and received from within the Microsoft Windows 3.0 environment. The new modem supports a feature from Hayes AutoSync which enables portable computers to communicate with synchronous mainframe computers. GRiD claims phone charge savings from the higher transmission speed will pay for the modem over time – the company quotes analyst figures suggesting that users transferring a 2Mb file over long distance phone lines once a week would save $1,100 a year by using a 9,600bps modem rather than a 2,400bps unit. The GRiD modem will cost $1,200.
