NW -- it would seem every "newsletter" is received by at least 1 person on the threads. More so the the $$$ rise I was impressed with the volume!
Check this.. the future?? IBM & SUN think there are bucks to be made,, a $500 server??
Sep. 10, 1999 (PCWorld via COMTEX) -- IBM on Wednesday introduced two
new models in its network computer line designed to provide low-cost,
diskless access to corporate intranets and the Internet. The Network
Station 2200 and 2800 ($559 and $799 respectively, excluding monitor)
will be available starting September 17.
About the size of a large textbook, Network Stations were first
introduced in 1997 as part of IBM's embrace of "thin client"
technology, which takes most of the computing power out of the user's
system and puts it on centralized servers, where the software
"environment" can be more reliably maintained.
According to IBM, the two new models have faster CPUs, more memory,
better multimedia support, and broader ability to connect to
peripherals than the Series 300 and 1000, which remain in the line. The
company also upgraded the special software used to manage the systems
by adding Netscape Communicator 4.5 support, a new user interface, and
multimedia utilities, among other features. A major selling point is
Network Stations' ability to link with various servers, including
Windows NT, Linux, UNIX, and IBM mainframes.
The management tools are important, according to Joe Clabby, an
Aberdeen Group analyst. They'll help corporations better monitor and
control thin clients when their hardware needs fixing or software needs
updating--tasks that can be more difficult and expensive with networked
Windows PCs.
"The payback is really in systems management," Clabby says, adding
that corporations report saving 50 percent on such costs by installing
network computers (NCs).
Damn Those Cheap PCs
NCs first made a splash two years ago, but the category faltered when
the under-powered systems failed to significantly undercut sub-$1,000
PCs. Lack of Java applications also slowed adoption.
But vendors like IBM and Wyse have been quietly selling NCs to
corporations, which tend to use them for clerical tasks and data entry
and retrieval. Greater availability of more powerful servers and Java
applications make NCs' prospects more favorable today, says Clabby,
whose company predicts thin clients--including upcoming mobile and
embedded ones--will represent one-third of all client access to servers
by 2003.
(COMTEX) B: IBM Unveils New Network Stations
B: IBM Unveils New Network Stations
Sep. 10, 1999 (PCWorld via COMTEX) -- IBM on Wednesday introduced two
new models in its network computer line designed to provide low-cost,
diskless access to corporate intranets and the Internet. The Network
Station 2200 and 2800 ($559 and $799 respectively, excluding monitor)
will be available starting September 17.
About the size of a large textbook, Network Stations were first
introduced in 1997 as part of IBM's embrace of "thin client"
technology, which takes most of the computing power out of the user's
system and puts it on centralized servers, where the software
"environment" can be more reliably maintained.
According to IBM, the two new models have faster CPUs, more memory,
better multimedia support, and broader ability to connect to
peripherals than the Series 300 and 1000, which remain in the line. The
company also upgraded the special software used to manage the systems
by adding Netscape Communicator 4.5 support, a new user interface, and
multimedia utilities, among other features. A major selling point is
Network Stations' ability to link with various servers, including
Windows NT, Linux, UNIX, and IBM mainframes.
The management tools are important, according to Joe Clabby, an
Aberdeen Group analyst. They'll help corporations better monitor and
control thin clients when their hardware needs fixing or software needs
updating--tasks that can be more difficult and expensive with networked
Windows PCs.
"The payback is really in systems management," Clabby says, adding
that corporations report saving 50 percent on such costs by installing
network computers (NCs).
Damn Those Cheap PCs
NCs first made a splash two years ago, but the category faltered when
the under-powered systems failed to significantly undercut sub-$1,000
PCs. Lack of Java applications also slowed adoption.
But vendors like IBM and Wyse have been quietly selling NCs to
corporations, which tend to use them for clerical tasks and data entry
and retrieval. Greater availability of more powerful servers and Java
applications make NCs' prospects more favorable today, says Clabby,
whose company predicts thin clients--including upcoming mobile and
embedded ones--will represent one-third of all client access to servers
by 2003.
NCs remain viable in part because sub-$1,000 PCs have not been
popular with corporations, says market-researcher International Data
Corporation. Eighty-eight percent of corporations pay more than $1,000
per PC, not including maintenance costs, says IDC, which predicts sales
of so-called "thin client" systems will jump from less than half a
million this year to more than 6 million by 2003.
Also on Wednesday, Sun Microsystems unveiled a thin-client machine
called Sun Ray 1 that works only with Sun servers (although it can also
run Windows NT applications) and can be rented for $9.99 a month or
purchased for $499.
"Functionally, they do the same thing," Clabby says, but the IBM
systems concentrate more on connecting to IBM mainframes and
minicomputers, while Sun Ray 1 has the equivalent function for Sun
servers.
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