Oracle Corporation chief executive officer Larry Ellison will unveil his company's first complete Network Computer (NC) system at Oracle Open World in Tokyo on Wednesday. Larry Ellison is widely regarded as the driving force behind network computing, which relies on centrally stored data, high speed networks and cheap terminals.

The entire Network Computing platform consists of four main parts and all will be on display at the show. They include the Network Computer (NC), a machine for offices; the NC Server that runs the network; NC applications, which are written in Java; and the NC Card, a smart card with the user's personal information stored on it. The NC Card enables a user to connect to their own desktop and files from any workstation.

A thousand NCs are expected to be on display, based on a range of central processors including Intel's Pentium and the ARM and Strong ARM chips. Applications already developed, and on display, will include Web-based groupware applications, a TN-3270 emulator, word processor, spreadsheet and other Java- based applications.

Companies that will be showing NC versions of their software will include Lotus, Novell, NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Unisys and others.

Source: Newsbytes