Network Computing Devices Inc, the long-time X Windows player that only a few years ago was pitted squarely against Microsoft Corp, is now completely in the Microsoft camp. It still sells Unix, but – in the Internet-driven rift that positions Sun, Oracle and Netscape against Microsoft and companies like NCD’s new buddy Citrix Systems – NCD is lined up behind Microsoft. Microsoft last month licensed Citrix’ Intelligent Console Architecture – a technology that NCD has also licensed – which will let it run full-sized Windows applications over networks and the Internet. Although NCD co-founder and Systems Corporation VP Mike Harrigan called the Internet the first chink in the armor for Microsoft because it shows that not all office applications have to be on the Microsoft platform, he added, I don’t really believe that all of the major applications will become Java applets. Because of the established Windows applications and development tools, he said People are not going to start writing Java applications off the bat and are more likely to develop Windows applications. That’s where NCD and its Citrix-based WinCenter Pro, which can also run Unix and X applications from a server, come in. WinCenter Pro is meant to be used with NCD’s Explora terminal, a modem-sized box that with monitor, keyboard, mouse and software sells for $1,000. Harrigan said that NCD has abandoned the X terminals tag in favor of Larry Ellison’s Network Computer. Harrigan, said that Unix terminal sales pulled in $120 million last year and projected that by the end of the year NCD will be selling as many network computers into the Windows space as it does in the Unix space. By the end of 1997, he said, NT could be outselling Unix by two or three to one. Harrigan said NCD will focus on three primary vertical markets that have need of easily administered dataless and applicationless terminals: mission-critical mainframe users, point-of-sale sites and institutions such as schools, hospitals and libraries.
