It appears that Intel Corp’s Pentium is beginning to sweep all before it in the Network Computer market, and Philips Electronics NV and NEC Corp have both committed to offer Pentium-based products. According to the Network Computer Inc subsidiary of Oracle Corp, Philips Business Electronics will make and launch a line of Network Computers using a 133MHz Pentium processor, which are expected to sell for under $700. The device can be connected to a television set or monitor as supports PAL and NTSC as well as Video Graphics Array. The Philips line will also support standard network interfaces including Fast Ethernet, CD-ROM, infra-red, wireless keyboard and mouse. Philips plans to manufacture and market Network Computers running Network Computer Inc’s NC Desktop system software and sell them through its own channels and via system integrators into corporate markets globally. Philips expects to start shipping in June and will initially market them in the Asia-Pacific region, with Europe likely to follow in the near future. As for NEC Corp, it is more interested in the back or server end, and is working with Network Computer Inc to get its Express Server family – one Pentium up to eight Pentium Pros – certified to run the NC Server turnkey server suite, which uses the NCOS operating system.
