Wyse Technology Inc has signed an agreement with Cyrix Corp that will see Wyse delivering a new terminal based on the Cyrix MediaGX processor (CI No 3,372). The terminal will add to Wyse’s Winterm Window’s based terminals, and will sit at the high end of the range. Under the terms of the agreement, Wyse will take 1 million of the processors from Cyrix over the next three years. Wyse is looking at releasing the new terminals, which will be based on the multi user version of Windows NT 4.0 and aimed at the corporate market, towards the second half of next year. Wyse is going along with NT 4.0 at the moment, but expects to have an NT 5.0 version ready when the machine hits the shops. The terminal will also include its parent company, National Semiconductor Corp’s Super Input/Output devices, amplifiers and power circuits, which will account for 80% of the semiconductor components in the new terminals. The MediaGX chip, which has been chosen for its multimedia capabilities, will be a variant of the personal computer version that is used by the likes of Packard Bell NEC Corp. Wyse claims the inclusion of the Cyrix processor is the first step in offering thin client terminals that are much more compact and integrate most of the logic on to a single chip. Cyrix and Wyse have agreed to work on future desktop designs that will incorporate National Semiconductor’s digital and anolog devices, including PC-on-a-chip technology, which is currently in development. Previous Winterm devices have been based on Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc chips, but Wyse says it has no plans to stop using these chips.
