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April 26, 1999
Sun Plans to Introduce New Network
Product
By JOHN MARKOFF
AN FRANCISCO -- Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to introduce a
software product on Monday that is designed for companies that
want to let their employees use various devices to connect to corporate
computer networks, secure from unauthorized access.
Employing the system, workers could use desktop computers, laptops or
even hand-held personal digital assistants to connect to the network.
The new software, called i-Planet, creates an electronic work space for
employees that includes traditional applications like word processing and
spreadsheets as well as group calendars, file storage and e-mail.
The approach represents a refinement of the original "network
computer," or NC, strategy first proposed in 1996 and supported by
companies including Sun, Oracle, IBM and Apple Computer as an
alternative to the personal computer.
That NC has been slow to gain support, in part because of the drastic
collapse in prices of personal computers based on Microsoft's Windows
operating system, as well as slow development of software and hardware
to replace standard office PC's.
All the while, however, industry executives like Sun's chairman, Scott
McNealy, and Oracle's chairman, Larry Ellison, have continued to push
for an alternative to the traditional corporate PC network.
As with the NC strategy, i-Planet aims to eliminate the need for
installation of software programs on individual computers by offering
software services that users would employ through network-access
devices.
"We're seeing a fundamental shift to the consumerization of network
access and the emergence of network services," said Greg
Papadopoulos, Sun's chief technology officer.
Sun's executives said the company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif.,
planned to offer i-Planet through alliances with companies that provide
services based on the World Wide Web.
Several people close to the planning plans said Sun would announce
those partners on May 5. One partner is expected to be Digex Inc. of
Beltsville, Md.
Both Sun and Microsoft have worked on technologies intended to shift
corporate information away from the personal computer and back
toward centralized corporate computing systems that are in some ways
reminiscent of mainframe computer setups.
Last year William H. Gates, Microsoft's chairman, circulated a
memorandum that outlined a system he referred to as a "megaserver" that
would act as a repository and distributor of most corporate information.
Papadopoulos compared i-Planet to consumer media portals like Yahoo,
Excite and Lycos, except with built-in security features to safeguard the
information that passes between the employee's computing device and
the central server.
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