IBM last week released software that lets network administrators define network computer (NC) user access to server-based applications.

The new software, called Network Station Manager, resides on a server and contains services such as terminal emulation and Java applet storage.

Net administrators access the software via a Web browser. Administrators then graphically configure NC user profiles that define the services a user can access, such as server-based files and applications, including Windows applications.

Beta site Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Shell Lake, has installed the new software on an AS/400 server to support five very different end users, each of which has an IBM Network Station NC.

``We customized each device [using the software],'' said Ray Peterson, information systems specialist with the college's IS group.

The server software was stable and the browser interface was extremely easy to use, Peterson said. ``We hardly read the manuals at all,'' he added.

Peterson also said the only missing ingredients were compact Java applications for word processing, E-mail and scheduling.

For this, the college will evaluate the Java-based Kona suite from Lotus Development Corp. ``We have to have a complete package [of applications] in order to make this thin-client approach successful,'' Peterson said.

The Network Station Manager and the companion Web browser, called the Network Station Browser, can be downloaded for free by existing customers from www.ibm.com/nc. The software will be available in CD-ROM versions next month.

Initially, Network Station Manager will run only on the AS/400. By year-end, IBM will roll out mainframe, Windows NT and Unix versions.

The IBM Network Station Manager and the IBM Network Station Browser comply with the Network Computer Reference Profile.

The profile is sponsored by Oracle Corp.'s Network Computer, Inc. subsidiary and other vendors, including IBM, to make it easier for NCs to operate with one another and other systems.

Later this quarter, IBM will release the Navio NC Navigator, a customized version of Netscape's Navigator 3.0 for NCs.

Source: Network World