Posted for the other info. other than the "corel will not discuss N/C progress" - already posted.
Looks like Master-of-the-universe-Bill may still have a chance to under-cut the N/C. What a downer.
Pete
www4.zdnet.com:80/intweek/daily/971114c.html
Comdex: Microsoft's CE May Steal The Show
By Mel Duvall and By Charles Babcock
12:00 PM EDT
Comdex goers next week will get a chance to preview the low-cost
Windows-based networking devices that are emerging as competitors to the
network computer.
In addition, those attending the Las Vegas show will see Bay Networks Inc.
and Cisco Systems Inc. bring remote offices and small businesses to the Net
with $600 to $750 products. And the growing importance of e-commerce will
be evident through several vendor offerings.
However, low-end networking units are likely to steal the show.
Two suppliers, Network Computing Devices Inc. and Neoware Systems Inc.
(the former HDS Systems), are putting Windows NT networking devices on
display. The move is ironic since these two were also early entrants in the
Java-based network computer (NC) market, signaling a desire on the part of
some vendors to hedge bets when it comes to investing in NC product lines.
"No one knows where the network computer market is going," said Peter
Kastner, analyst at the Boston-based Aberdeen Group Inc.
The picture has changed dramatically from Comdex a year ago, when there
was wide anticipation of the easy-to-manage NC replacing dumb terminals
and PCs, analysts said.
No groundswell of NC installations is visible yet, leaving an opening for
Microsoft to launch the small-footprint version of its widely used operating
system, Windows CE, said Rob Enderle, a senior analyst at Giga Information
Group Inc.
Devices based on CE are about to appear and take over "a significant
portion" of the NC market, Enderle said.
"Windows CE will allow Microsoft to expand its dominant position beyond
traditional PC systems into thin clients," seconds a recent Zona Research Inc.
report.
Windows CE was designed for smart phones and set-top boxes in addition to
network devices and potentially has a broad base of users, which will attract
developers of software for it, Enderle added.
Network Computing will show its first Windows CE device, code-named
Thumper, in the main hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center close to the
Microsoft booth. They will be based on 100-million-instruction-per-second
and 133-Mips processors and will be able to run Windows applications as
soon as they are turned on.
In most cases, however, users will use the CE windowing devices as front
ends to applications running on an NT server.
Pricing has not been set but will be similar to the company's Java-based NCs
at $695. The product will not be available, however, until Microsoft ships the
next upgrade to Windows NT in mid-1998 with its multiuser capabilities,
code-named Hydra.
Neoware will show its book-sized $599 NeoStation 200, which is also
designed to work with an NT Hydra server but runs a Neoware operating
system, netOS.
NeoStations will be available immediately and buyers will have the option of
using them with Citrix Systems Inc.'s WinFrame, a multiuser system for NT,
instead of waiting for the next update of NT. Citrix pioneered the idea of
hanging many users off an NT server without relying on a local area network.
The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., firm ended up licensing the technology to
Microsoft.
Neoware Executive Vice President Michael Kantrowitz said NeoStation users
will have access to the Internet, the same as NC users. In most cases,
business users will rely on their NT server to route them out to the Net
through a firewall-protected proxy server.
Tektronix Inc. representatives said the company also will show a $745
ThinStream terminal at Comdex, which will work with Citrix's WinFrame until
NT 5.0 becomes available with Hydra. The ThinStream will then become a
device that is upgradable to Windows CE.
Siemens-Nixdorf is also working on a Windows CE network terminal,
Enderle said.
As competitors emerge, the NC itself will offer only a thin, if not faint, profile
at the show.
Although four major vendors have promised to launch their own hardware
lines running Java, only one will show anything in Las Vegas. IBM Corp. will
show its Network Station Series 1000. IBM Network Stations will run its
Lotus Development Corp. unit's recently announced eSuite of Java office
applications. Lotus will feature users of its electronic commerce suite in a
so-called e-Theatre at the show.
However, Corel Corp.'s networking unit canceled a press conference slated
for Tuesday to air progress on its network computer.
"We don't yet have a final build of machines that we can take into pilot
testing," said Oliver Bendsza, communications manager for Corel Computer
Corp., the hardware unit of Corel in Ottawa. Without hardware production up
and running, Corel won't be able to launch a large beta test until January
1998, with general release planned for February, he said.
The other NC proponents, Oracle Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc., are not
exhibiting NCs at the show.
Other expected hardware announcements: Bay Networks will showcase
Instant Internet100, an Internet access server starting at $750, for small
business and remote offices. Cisco will counter with its $599 Network in a
Box Integrated Services Digital Networks router, designed for offices with
five or fewer users.
On the software side, Borland Corp. will upgrade its JBuilder development
environment for Java, announcing Tuesday a corporate developer's version for
$2,000. |
