As expected, HDS Network Systems Inc was first out of the Network Computer blocks (CI No 2,933), launching its @workStation and sounding off about the plans fellow travellers IBM Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and Oracle Corp are cooking up for their own Network Compu-ter variants. It claims HDS @workStat-ion will provide access to mainframe, Unix and personal computer applications while Oracle and Sun are off running Java applets for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation graphics. It is banking on users’ reluctance to throw away existing applications and a shortage of Java applications. HDS says its initial hostility to the Network Computer Reference Profile was its anti-WinTel orientation (CI Nos 2,920, 2,931). It decided to give the netOS operating system the Network Computer-compliant tag only when it realized how little work it had to do with what it already had. It is pushing @workStation into the banking and education markets and is looking to pick up a bunch of OEM deals. @workStation is a $750 Network Computer combining integrated Internet access, Java and can run applications on any server system: mainframe, Unix or personal computer, says executive vice-president Michael Kantrowitz. It runs HDS 300Kb Posix-compliant, multi-tasking, multi-threaded netOS operating system and includes a Spyglass Inc Web browser and a Java Virtual Machine to support Java applets. It is built around an Intel Corp 80960 RISC processor, and it comes with 4Mb memory, upgradable to 128Mb. In theory netOS could run on any processor, it claims. Internet access comes with a choice of service providers via a TCP/IP stack with a Point-to-Point Protocol driver. The operating system comes with an optional hard drive with up to 1Gb of storage and an optional floppy drive. It says it is currently geared up to manufacture 2,500 systems a month, and claims it has the capacity for up to 20,000. Its opened offices in the UK and signed up UK-based distributor Xanadu Systems Ltd, and looks for similar deals on the continent. It sells direct in the US.
