The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) will enter the systems management field this week when it announces technology for Unix servers that will distribute applications to network computers (NCs).

Company officials said the technology, code-named Tarantella, will allow network administrators to distribute Windows, X-Windows, and character-based applications across multiple Unix servers, which can then be accessed by any Java-enabled Web browser.

In addition to NCs, these servers can support Windows PCs and Macintoshes or any other fat clients on a network, according to sources close to the company.

"This technology would mean ISVs can take their applications and offer them to a much wider audience," said Chris Le Tocq, an analyst at Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif. "Previously, users needed to run X-terminal emulators on their PCs."

Tarantella is due early next year and will be built into the operating system at some point, said sources close to the company. A maintenance release of UnixWare is due in the first quarter of 1997.

In October, Microsoft announced plans to add similar functionality to the Windows OS and x86-based hardware with its NetPC initiative.

As part of its Zero Administration effort, Microsoft promised to add a number of features to its Windows OS that would let network administrators download software from the server.

During the coming weeks, SCO is expected to make a related announcement to support HTML as a default file format, which would make data easier to transfer across different platforms. It will also build intelligence into the OS so that the server can decide if an application should run locally on a traditional desktop or on the server.

The company said it will demonstrate the NC operating system next week as part of its evolving Internet strategy. In addition, SCO is working with Oracle to create a network computer server specification.

Source: InfoWorld