Yesterday at Oracle’s Network Computing Day held at Radio City Music Hall, Network Computer Inc. (NCI), Oracle’s wholly-owned subsidiary, announced general availability of its NC Server software which delivers an easy-to-administer, low-cost method for deploying network computers -- offering savings of 81% over conventional PC platforms. Priced at $149 per user, NC Server reduces total cost of ownership with a powerful and reliable way to deploy applications and manage network computers.

With this aggressive move, NCI offers organizations -- such as corporations, schools, small offices and government facilities -- a viable and cost effective alternative to legacy PC networks. Comprised of all the software needed for an NC network, including Java-based productivity and groupware applications, the pre-configured NC Server outprices conventional PC networks with a price point significantly less than Microsoft’s traditional software suite (see chart below).

5-User Deployment System Comparison

The NC Server is designed to be installed and maintained as a server appliance with minimal administration. Additionally, all software and upgrades are transparently distributed from the NC Server to network computers without manual intervention by desktop administrators. As a result, networks utilizing an NC Server enable organizations to significantly reduce spending on client administration, which comprise a significant portion of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of conventional PC networks.

"The NC Server is proof that open standards drive competition, ultimately lowering the cost of computing for our customers," said Jerry Baker, CEO of NCI. "The introduction of the NC Server marks a significant shift in our industry, making computing technology available to those who previously couldn’t afford it."

Recently, leading market analyst firms have confirmed the potential for network computers to reduce total cost of ownership. According to a Gartner Group’s TCO study (February 1997), Java-based network computers are expected to undercut the TCO of PCs by up to 39 percent. Yankee Group’s "Making a Business Case for the Network Computer" also emphasized that simplified management and reduced desktop support costs are the top benefits of network computers with 45 percent of the Fortune 100 planning to purchase network computers in the next two years.

The NC Server provides all of the software needed to quickly and cost-effectively set up and support an extensive network of NCs scaling to hundreds of devices. The software will ship pre-installed on most NC Server systems such as NEC’s Express platform. In the event an installation is required, the NC Server is set up by simply inserting the software CDs into the CD ROM tray.

The operating system powering the NC Server is NCI’s NCOS, a scalable, robust operating system for standard Intel hardware. In addition to the Oracle database, the NC Server software integrates server based applications such as Oracle’s Video Server and Web Application Server to deliver data, real-time audio and video content and thousands of Java applications directly from the Internet or corporate intranet to network computers; Oracle’s Web collaboration suite, Oracle InterOffice for document sharing, workflow, calendaring and messaging; Oracle’s InterOffice client software which includes "Hat Trick", Java-based software productivity applets for word processing and presentation graphics and a new electronic mail program code-named Summatra.

Network computers are enabled and managed by the NC Administration Server. Based on scaleable, industry standards and protocols, NC Administration Server includes:

• Initialization, authentication, file system and printing services for network computers
• NC Manager which includes applets for adding and deleting users and defining password access to specific information and applications; and formatting NC Cards with each user’s personal identification number and server connect string that will enable automatic access to their documents, applications, and information services.
• NCI’s NC Desktop software, the multimedia system software which is automatically downloaded to individual network computers to enable Java and Web-enabled applications and content.

NC Server is designed to support the Network Computing Architecture (NCA) providing a highly-extensible, standards-based application development platform. Through NCA, customers can reduce their cost of ownership by building modular, reusable and extensible plug-ins or cartridges on 3-tiers -- the client, the application server and the data server.

NC Server is available through NCI’s value added resellers and systems integrators. For more information contact NCI at 415/631-4600.

NCI, a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation, develops, licenses and markets a complete suite of software, technology and support services for the network computer including NC Desktop, NC Server and NC Card. With strategic alliances worldwide, NCI’s mission is to bring network computing to the corporate, consumer and educational marketplaces.

High resolution screen shots of NC Desktop Software can be downloaded at http://www.nc.com/presspho.html