Sun Microsystems Inc CTO Greg Papadopoulos says the company’s network computer is still very much at the proof of concept stage. He told the San Jose Mercury News that the concept has more to do with the software architecture than hardware, and that as network-based applications and services are developed, low- cost PCs will be treated like they were network computers. Papadopoulos expects Sun’s key growth markets to be storage, computing devices used to handle network services – including the outsourcing of data – and network devices, though it won’t be building consumer devices itself. Papadopoulos predicts that in the three to five year period we will start seeing servers as peripherals to storage systems.
