IBM unveils its network family

Big Blue hopes to entice corporates with the roll-out of the first in a line of network computers

IBM will release the first of a family of network computers on 28 March that will be available exclusively via the channel. The Network Station will be based on a 33MHz Power PC 403 chip and will cost #500, excluding the monitor. Aimed at the corporate and business markets as a dumb terminal replacement, it is also a suitable machine for an intranet environment. Dave Conway-Jones, IBM European marketing manager of the network computing division, said: ?We won?t sell the product ourselves, although other IBM divisions like consultancy may come up with packages. The first product will be sold exclusively by Vars, dealers and systems integrators.? The machine runs a stripped-down version of BSD Unix, which includes the Java Virtual Machine, and will have IBM?s Web Explorer as a front end. At the server level, IBM will supply users with terminal emulation and windowing software, which runs in 2Mb of memory and has already gone into beta. Additional administration software has only just moved into alpha. The second member of the Network Station line due for release in mid-97 is a more powerful 66MHz Power PC 403-based model aimed at users wanting to run Java applications on their Network Station rather than simply browse the Internet or rely on server-based applications. This will be sold not only via the channel, but also through OEMs. A third and higher end offering, which is likely to ship in about a year, will be based on the Power PC 603, which is currently the basis of Big Blue?s portables. This will include a smartcard reader and will be aimed at both the consumer and business market. But IBM is also evaluating whether to ship a Network Station aimed purely at the consumer market.