Cambridge, UK-based Acorn Computer Group Plc and British Telecommunications Plc are getting together for a trial of Acorn network computers (NCs) built to the specification laid out by Oracle Corp. The television set-top boxes built for the purpose by Acorn and will use its software and RISC OS operating system. The services will include straight internet connection, software distribution, information services and communications services, created by BT and distributed over standard BT lines. The trial is pretty small-scale initially, involving just 40 BT employees from its Martelsham Heath laboratories in Suffolk, and will run for six months. By the fall BT will roll the service out to 500 consumers in the Colchester and Ipswich areas.
