Digital has stepped forward to play more of a starring role in the evolving drama of the thin client.

Last week, the company teamed with Network Computer Inc. (NCI) -- the Network Computer development subsidiary of Oracle -- to announce plans for a reference design for a network computer.

Dubbed the Digital Network Appliance Reference Design, the outline will be based on Digital's StrongARM microprocessor, company officials said. NCI's contribution to the specification will be NC Access, which is the enabling software inside the NC. The NC Access suite includes e-mail, Web access, scheduling, news services, and multimedia capabilities.

According to Digital officials, the reference design differs somewhat from the current NC Reference Profile.

"The spec itself contains many of the same elements of the original NC profile, with support for Java applets, etc.," said a Digital representative. "But it works with a lot of different operating systems."

Concern over a proliferation of reference designs was discounted by one analyst.

"The whole point of an NC is that the hardware doesn't matter. It's a universal client architecture," said Dan Kusnetzky, research director at International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.

Interoperability with existing PC systems is a prime element of the Digital/NCI reference specification, which will appear on both companies' Web sites this week, officials said.

Digital officials said two OEMs have committed to build systems -- Funai Electric, in Osaka, Japan; and Aranex, in Bedford, Mass.

Source: InfoWorld