THE GOVERNMENT chose UK Technology Week to announce a Green Paper, Net Benefit, outlining its electronic commerce agenda. VAIO desktops are on the way and, given Sony's strength in digital video, they will be serious contenders for multimedia work.. VAIO stands for Video Audio Integrated operation, and they do just that.The VAIO 505 comes with a combined network, modem, GSM and ISDN card in the box, MPEG digital video and 16-bit sound, as well as an iLINK input for Sony digital video cameras Despite this, the machine weighs only 1.35kg. The Japanese company is relatively new to the PC market, but its VAIO range of portables are some of the most advanced available.

A few years ago, an equivalent 17-inch conventional monitor cost only slightly less.The ultimate in integration came from that master of the miniature, Sony. For now, Sanyo is selling its 15in TFT flat panel for a recommended price of pounds 999. Flat-panel screens are becoming cheaper as their popularity grows, and they rival the quality of conventional monitors - 18in and 20in flat-panel screens should be on sale in the New Year. They also take up far less of the desk than four separate bits of kit.Screens, too, are shrinking. Flat-panel displays were everywhere, and not just on manufacturers' stands. Canon and Xerox demonstrated their range of all-in-one devices. Fax machines that also print, copy and scan now cost little more than a stand-alone fax, but do more.

ISDN equipment is much more affordable in Germany than it is here, and the presence of German manufacturers in the UK can only bring prices down.Convergence saves space as well as costs, and integrated equipment was another feature of the show. AVM had low-cost ISDN cards on its stand, while Tiptel showed its plug-and-play ISDN phones and phone systems, and Hagenuk ISDN terminal adapters. In Germany, ISDN is far better established than in the UK, and German companies dominated the displays. Highway is a simpler, lower- cost version of ISDN, and it is being marketed as a high-speed way for businesses and home users to access the Internet.Perhaps as a result, UK Technology Week had a strong showing of ISDN- compatible equipment.