The NC Revolution
Less is more when it comes to Network Computers
For the first time since computers have taken center stage on
the desktops of corporate America, the machine taking the market
by storm is one that actually does less than its predecessors.
Meet the "network computer," also known as "NC," "thin client,"
"network appliance," or, as one analyst dubs them, "network toasters."
The fact that such a relatively simple device can go by so many
names is ample proof that this is a concept that has yet to burst
fully forth from its shrink-wrap.
In one sense, that's curious because the idea behind network computers
is as old as computing itself: use a very simple desktop machine
(little to no processing power, no storage) to communicate with
a larger computer, which does all the work. NCs are the direct
descendants of dumb terminals such as IBM's famed 3270, and, more
recently, X terminals and diskless workstations.
But in another sense, NCs are revolutionary because they buck
the current trend in desktop computing: more power and more features
should be delivered to all users as fast as Moore's Law can generate
those next-generation microchips. NCs are a cry to let loose at
the all-you-can-eat buffet table of corporate information-age
largesse. "Customers are now telling us that they don't want to
put a 200Mhz Pentium machine on someone's desk if that person
only uses word-processing and email," says IBM's Jim Palatucci,
product marketing program director in the company's Network Computer
division in Somers, NY. "From the time we debuted the AS/400 minicomputer
(in the late '80s) customers have been pushing for lower-cost
access to centralized processing, and we've been working on it."
That may be Palatucci's way of suggesting the NCs were not single-handedly
conceived by Oracle Corp. founder and CEO Larry Ellison. But it
has been Ellison's relentless proselytizing over the past 12 months
that has put NCs neck-and-neck with the Internet in the Technology
Hype Derby. Not bad for a guy whose company doesn't even make
computers (although a "set-top box" device the company had in
the works, which makes it possible to get high-speed Internet
access, is evolving into an NC).
It was the explosion in Internet use that, Ellison says, inspired
his idea. If access to information via the Internet was fast becoming
the focus of many people's professional (and personal) lives,
the argument went, why not offer a simple, low-cost ($500 to $700)
computer-a sort of Volkswagen Beetle for the Info Highway that
would get them there economically?
Ellison quickly formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Network Computer
Inc., to address software issues associated with this idea. Some
hardware vendors, notably IBM and Sun, leapt in, while others
demurred. But as the buzz continued to build, everyone from Compaq
to Microsoft to Intel began to come forward with products or plans
for them. International Data Corp. in Framingham, MA, predicts
that the number of desktop machines accessing the Internet will
rise from 60 million in 1996 to 265 million in 2000, with NCs
accounting for more than 20% of them. Put another way, IDC sees
a 176.4% compound annual growth rate for NCs over the next five
years.
Ironically, much of the appeal to customers seems to have less
to do with Internet access than with recapturing the virtues of
the dumb terminal: low cost and easy maintenance. "With NCs, you
don't open yourself up to the problems of PCs," says Chris Housely,
director of information systems for The Crosby Group, a manufacturer
based in Tulsa, OK. "PC clients are expensive to buy, and more
expensive to maintain. You're fixing them every day as users go
in and modify their configuration files, introduce unsupported
software, or have a hard-drive or diskette problem. With NCs,
you have a controlled environment, but one that gives you a lot
of flexibility, as well."
Housely says his firm now has about 20 NCs in place, most for
use by customer-service agents who had been using dumb terminals.
He plans to increase use of the machines to several dozen by the
end of the year.
Analysts agree with Housely that the total-cost-of-ownership issue
is sharply in the NC's favor. Neil MacDonald of the Gartner Group
in Stamford, CT puts the total annual figure for a PC running
Windows 95 in a networked environment at about $10,000 a year,
compared to $1,800 to $3,000 for an NC.
Not everyone is a believer, however. Whatever their virtues on
the hardware side-which essentially boil down to the less you
have, the less you pay, the less you fix-on the software side,
NCs will, like so many technologies before them, have to wait
for the applications to catch up.
George Orlov, VP and CIO at Unicom Corp., an electrical services
provider in Chicago, has taken a look at NCs and isn't impressed.
"It's much more hype than reality," he says, "at least for the
next 12 months. Unless you want to rearchitect your applications,
how are you going to take advantage of them?"
Orlov is alluding to the fact that replacing a PC with an NC is
more than just a matter of unplugging the cable from one box and
sticking it in the back of another. While NCs offer a major usability
advantage in that end users don't have to be retrained (everything
looks the same at the desktop level), NCs really need applications
that have been written in, or modified with, Sun Microsystem's
Java programming language. And even IBM's Palatucci, who say his
company will sell "tens of thousands" of its Network Computer
Stations this year, admits that "industrial-strength applications
that make full use of Java" aren't here yet.
But they may not be far off. One major benefit of using Java is
that a software vendor can write just one version of a program
that can run on virtually any computer. As a result, the Java/NC
boom has enormous support from the legion of third-party software
suppliers who have already been the beneficiaries of corporate
America's new preference to buy off-the-shelf software rather
than build its own. IBM's Palatucci adds, "That doesn't mean customers
need to wait to reap the benefits of an NC. Customers deploying
the IBM Network Station can immediately access their mission-critical
applications, whether they be S/390, AS/400, RS/6000 or Windows-based."
And NCs may also get a boost from nascent efforts to create some
type of standards. Today, one company's NC probably won't work
well, or at all, with another's. But a two-part specification
agreed to by Oracle, IBM, Sun, and others now spells out what
features a device must have to be designated an "NC," and what
elements of Java must be supported. This specification lacks the
true, technical nitty-gritty of a "standard" as usually defined
in the computing industry, but is a useful step in that direction.
Hardware vendors face an interesting challenge: already struggling
to explain to customers (and sometimes rival divisions within)
how NCs differ from PCs, they will have to roll out the inevitable
"new and improved" models but resist loading them up with features
that make them truly indistinguishable from the PCs they're likely
to replace. "Some of these 'thin clients' don't look so thin anymore,"
says Unicom's Orlov.
IBM's Palatucci is more diplomatic. While acknowledging that today
"clients are spending a lot for capacity they don't need," he
hastens to add, "We're not saying NCs will replace PCs; these
are complementary products. Just as GM offers everything from
Corvettes and Cadillacs to basic Chevys depending on your needs,
we offer a portfolio of desktop machines."
About the Author: Scott Leibs is a freelance writer based in Boston.
|