IBM is aiming to ignite the struggling Net terminal market and shadowing Sun's renewed interest in thin clients.
Like Sun's new SunRay, Big Blue's terminals, are low-cost, no-frills boxes that offer a minimum of computing power, relying instead on a network connection to a server.
IBM announced the Network Stations 2200 and 2800 on Wednesday, targeting inexpensive Net connections for stores, banks, travel agents, and public kiosks.
The US$559 Series 2200 and the $799 Series 2800 will support Windows, UNIX, Linux, Java, and browser-based applications.
The 2800 features a beefier Intel Pentium processor than the 2200, making it suitable for faster client-side processing of audio and video applications, according to IBM.
IBM also updated their server software with Version 2 of its Network Station Manager. The software features updates of the Netscape Communicator browser and Sun's Java Virtual Machine, as well as support for RealNetworks audio-video file formats and Adobe's PDF.
Sun introduced the Sun Ray as a simple input/output device with a keyboard and little else except a network connection and a smart-card reader that lets users log into any terminal.
Unlike its predecessor, the doomed JavaStation, the Sun Ray doesn't use the performance-plagued Java operating system. The terminals will also run Windows programs and Net-based office applications from Star Office, which Sun recently acquired.
After languishing on computer skid row for a number of years, thin-client computing may be gaining momentum, according to International Data Corporation.
IDC reported that during the first half of 1999 shipments of thin-client systems were 305,000 units, an increase of 83 percent on the year before, and only 60,000 shy of the total shipped in 1998.
Thin-client computer sales are expected to more than double from $318 million in 1998 to $719.9 million in 2000, and similarly increase to $1.6 billion by 2002.
