CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1997 MAR 28 (NB) -- By Jacqueline Emigh.
Network computers (NCs) hold considerable promise for holding down
computer ownership and maintenance costs, but now, vendors need to start producing Java applications for the new thin client devices, users and analysts asserted, during this week's Zonathon '97 conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In one of the largest NC implementations to date, Retired Persons Services Inc. (RPS), a mail order prescription service for American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) members, is now rolling out 1,000 new devices from HDS to users accustomed to either PCs or dumb terminals, said Donovan L. Resh, speaking at a session attended by Newsbytes.
The new NCs are part of a new network architecture for the RPS, according to Resh, who is senior VP and chief information officer for the company.
The RPS had not purchased new computer equipment for so long that "it was time to get with it and join the 90s," Resh maintained.
The company's 1000 new NCs are running Insignia NTrigue. Other elements of the new network architecture include 22 ALR Quad6 symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) servers, also running NTrigue; 1,000 Pentium PCs from Digital Equipment Corp., operating Microsoft's Windows NT; 75 Pentium Pro Servers from DEC, running Windows NT for business applications; and three DEC AlphaServer 8400s, running Digital Unix for prescription, patient, and financial applications.
Before proceeding with the NC implementation, the RPS performed a
financial analysis comparing purchase and ownership costs versus those associated with "fat servers with fat clients," he said.
Purchase costs for new servers and clients needed for the "thin client architecture" amounted to $1,900,000, or $550,000 less than an estimated cost of $2,450,000 for the new servers and clients to be needed under a new hypothetical "fat client architecture."
Resh told the audience that, although the $500,000 savings on the
purchasing side was less than he had anticipated, total five-year
maintenance and support costs for the 1,000 thin clients came to only $2.5 million, in contrast to a cost of $35 million for 1,000 fat clients over five years.
The senior VP added that, to his surprise, user acceptance of the new NCs was initially much stronger among PC users, such as office support staff, than among users of black-and-white dumb test terminals.
The office workers easily accepted management's assertions that they were receiving "something new, better, and faster" than a PC, according to Resh.
But upon seeing the large, colorful graphical user interface (GUI)
produced by the NCs, the users of dumb terminals expressed strong doubts "that they could ever use something like that."
After a week or two, though, terminal users who have been given the new devices have come to prefer the NCs, the conference attendees were told.
In addition to providing cost savings and faster performance than PCs, the new NCs provide faster installation and configuration, according to Resh.
On the down side, however, "the NC technology and operating systems (OS) are ahead of the applications," he added.
As a result, in the future, Resh plans to "work with software partners in adjusting to NC technology," as well as in migrating new Java applications to the Java-ready HDS NCs.
The RPS is also collaborating with Computer Associates on the development of a Unicenter TNG agent for NCs and NTrigue, according to the RPS exec.
But NCs would probably not have panned out as part of the current
migration of Coopers & Lybrand's complex multivendor network to Windows NT, contended Rowan Snyder, another speaker.
The reason is that so many users at Coopers & Lybrand are mobile knowledge workers, who need the flexibility that notebook PCs can bring, according to Snyder.
"And anyway, NCs were not even available" at the time when Coopers &
Lybrand first undertook its move to a Windows NT architecture, Snyder
noted.
Nynex recently completed an overhaul of its massive internal network to a distributed three-tier model, observed Nancy P. Karen, managing director of distributed networks, also during the conference session.
But the RBOC (regional Bell operating company) is now considering the
future use of NCs on the network, she added.
Ideally, NCs would "reduce workstation complexity, and remove OS platform and software distribution concerns," according to Karen.
On the other hand, however, even more emphasis would be placed on PC
servers, a product category that "continues to have availability
problems," asserted the Nynex exec.
"And desktop office automation apps are not ready. Java applets are either too slow or not available," she informed the audience.
Blatnik noted that key vendors in the NC market include "the SONIA (Sun, Oracle, Netscape and IBM) bunch; Intel, Microsoft, and the PC industry; the terminal industry; information application vendors such as Nortel, Navitel, Unwired Planet, and TV vendors;" telephone companies and other network service providers; and application software vendors such as Corel and IBM's Lotus.
Blatnik predicted that, over the long term, NCs will in fact "address
concerns about the complexity and costs" of computer networks.
In addition, as NCs evolve, the devices will act as catalysts for other new technologies, in areas ranging from application servers to "hybrid, rich media applications; push technologies; and commercial desktops and information appliances," according to the Zona analyst.
(19970328/Reader Contact: Zona Research Inc., 415-568-5700; Press Contact: Lee Kurnoff, Zona, 415-568-5700; Reported by Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com ) |
