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Technology Stocks : CYRIX / NSM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (30192)	11/5/1998 7:06:00 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 33344

To all, I wonder if this Wyse terminal is going to be Cyrix based (maybe MXi based): techweb.com Wyse Plans Network Computer Killer (11/05/98; 7:15 a.m. ET) By Jennifer Hagendorf, Computer Reseller News Wyse Technology is expected to unveil a new player in the thin-client market space, a system the company is touting as an NC killer. Set to debut Nov. 9, the Winterm 5000 network terminal delivers on the promises the NC could not, said Jeff McNaught, senior director and general manager at Wyse, based in San Jose, Calif. "We're doing the things [Oracle chairman] Larry Ellison promised, but at a lower cost," McNaught said. The Java-based NC has been slow to catch on with end users because of poor Java application support and because NCs can be complex to install and support, according to McNaught. In contrast, Wyse's network terminal features a full suite of management tools and supports multiple protocols. Programmers are not required to rewrite and convert their already existing applications into a different programming language, he said. The introduction of the network terminal marks a change in thin-client strategy for Wyse, which formerly threw all its support behind Windows-based terminals. The Winterm network terminal represents a class of thin-client devices that support broader functionality. The Winterm includes 16 megabytes of RAM and features a user-friendly graphical interface that lets users open multiple applications at the same time and move the open windows around the desktop. It is plug-and-play with any server, said McNaught. As far as the protocols Winterm supports, there's something for everyone. The Winterm can display any application, character-based or graphical, running on any intranet, Unix, mainframe, or Win NT server on the network, said McNaught. It supports Citrix ICA; server-based Java; and SCO Tarantella, Unix-based application-broker software from Santa Clara, Calif.-based SCO that turns output from different servers into one simple protocol. The network terminal has a local Web browser based on code from Netscape, but contrasts the NC, which runs Java programs locally on the client, said McNaught. "We run applications that would slow down performance, like Java, on the server," he said. Vertical-market VARs that sell Unix solutions will find the Winterm especially attractive, because it offers an easy way for resellers to modernize without converting programs to Windows, according to McNaught. "Resellers will find it easier to change [from a Unix system] to a desktop device like this than to a PC," said McNaught. "They won't have to rewrite for Windows." And since users can access multiple platforms at the same time, the Winterm lets customers migrate from character-based systems to NT at their own pace, he said. Wyse sees Winterm 5000 as a direct competitor to IBM's NetStation, though not as a Windows-based terminal (WBT) replacement, said McNaught. He said he expects the Winterm to eat into the WBT market by less than 20 percent. The Winterm 5000 will come in four models. Pricing begins at about $650 for a modular unit that sits on the desktop next to the monitor. A model with an integrated 14-inch CRT display is priced at $840, while a 15-inch version costs $899. A model with an integrated LCD panel will also be available, though the price has yet to be determined, McNaught said. Joe