Date: Mon, 15 Jan 96 18:35:09 GMT
From: pbondar (Peter Bondar)
To: art-all
Subject: more info on the Oracle deal.

From directors-request@acorn.co.uk  Mon Jan 15 17:27:32 1996
Date: Mon, 15 Jan 96 17:26:14 GMT
From: kcoleman@acorn.co.uk (Kevin Coleman)
To: Directors@acorn.co.uk, JAHarris@acorn.co.uk
Cc:  (ChrisW)ChrisW@Text100.co.uk
Subject: Looks like we don't have to worry about what WE say!

From SWilson@omi.co.uk Mon Jan 15 17:21:56 1996
To: KColeman@acorn.co.uk
Subject: another InfoWorld piece
Date: Mon,15 Jan 1996 17:21:31
From: SWilson@omi.co.uk (Sophie Wilson)

Oracle details plans for family of low-cost Internet devices 

By Elinor Mills
InfoWorld Electric 
Posted at 5:11 PM PT, Jan 12, 1996 

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Oracle Corp. will spawn a family of Internet Appliances
including a World Wide Web terminal, video phone, set-top box, personal digital
assistant, and two-way pager that might use different microprocessors but share
a common network computer operating system, an Oracle executive explained
Thursday.

The company is discussing co-development of technology to be used in the
devices with other companies, as well as to hardware vendors interested in
licensing the resulting technology, said Andrew Laursen, vice president of
network computing at Oracle. Those vendors include makers of PCs, consumer
electronics devices, and set-top boxes.

Laursen confirmed an agreement with Acorn Computer Group Plc. of Cambridge,
England, on development of reference designs for a range of network computer
products, but refused to say what other companies Oracle is in discussions
with. See related story, "Oracle taps UK firm Acorn to design Internet
appliance." 

"We're looking at all the embedded RISC processors as potential devices to be
used for reference designs," Laursen said. "It just happens that right now the
ARM [Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. chip that Acorn uses] is the best
price-performance processor with the appropriate level of operating system" and
graphics support. "The ARM is the only one we've announced."

"The Network Computer will use pieces of the RISC operating system, but what
we're doing is we're building a multimedia operating system and we're calling
it NC-OS," he said.

Users won't see a Windows- or Macintosh-type interface, but a browser. "When
you turn on this box you will be launched into what we're calling the Internet
desktop," he said. "It's your browser, your email, and your word processing and
all that functionality is rolled into one interface."

The first device that will be marketed will be an Internet terminal for the
consumer market: "Essentially be a small footprint box" with a number of
network connectors on it, according to Laursen.

"It will have a network connector for Ethernet, which gives you cable modems
and corporate LANs, and it will support high-speed modems," he said. "It will
connect to either a TV set or a super VGA monitor. You can connect in a
keyboard and a mouse directly or through infrared. It will have a parallel port
for a printer cable."

The device will come with a small LCD screen if a manufacturer can include one
and still maintain the expected $500 street price, he said. Otherwise, the
customer can hook the device up to a color LCD screen or TV.

As far as connection speed, Laursen said the Network Computer will be "subject
to the same laws of physics" as PCs. "I would argue 28.8 kbps isn't fast enough
to surf the Internet, but this thing will work as well as any 'net appliance
works at 28.8."

Laursen wouldn't say whether the NC-OS is being developed in-house or with whom
Oracle might be working to license technology for it.

"It's really this multimedia authoring run-time paradigm, as opposed to a
particular operating system," he explained. "You will be able to author
applications for this class of machine once and play them on different
hardware. All the software we're developing will run on the PC.

"We're building a software platform that is hardware independent so the NC-OS
will run on more than just one processor," Laursen said. "We're trying to not
do what Microsoft and Apple have done and lock ourselves into one particular
hardware architecture, so we can take advantage of major improvements by a
particular chip manufacturer."

Once a reference design is ready, Oracle will then license it "to anybody who
wants to license it," he said, adding that numerous manufacturers have
approached Oracle about that possibility. "Oracle Corp. will be licensing a
right to manufacture and distribute a Network Computer," he said.

Besides browsing the Web, creating documents and sending and receiving email,
users will be able to print from the device and store data on the network.

"There will probably be an option where you'll have some amount of local
storage," he added.

"If people want to put hard disks on this they can do it ... We're making it
possible to use without a hard disk. It may give them better performance with
certain network situations, but our intention is to build a system where you
are not required to have a local storage system."

The base Network Computer could end up embedded "directly inside a monitor or
even shipped inside a TV set. There's no external box," he said. "Who bundles
what and how they sell it, that's their business. We're selling the
functionality."

The Network Computer will offer user authentication and encrypted messaging, as
well as run Java, the object-oriented programming language from Sun
Microsystems Inc. The local operating system will be reloaded every time the
device is booted, eliminating virus concerns, according to Laursen.

Oracle is still looking for the "appropriate venue" to unveil a prototype of
the Network Computer sometime before the end of March, Laurson said. The
devices are expected to ship by the end of 1996, he said.

Laursen denied that Oracle will make any Network Computer-related announcements
next week. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and chairman, is scheduled to give a
keynote at a trade show in Japan next week that will be more visionary than it
is detailed, Laursen said.

While the Network Computer will be ideal for corporate users because it will
save money on maintaining equipment, Laursen said "the biggest market long-term
will be schools because the price is right."

Here are the devices Oracle Corp. is planning for its Network Computer family
of products: Two-way Pager -- A very small device to send and receive email and
selected information such as stock quotes.

Personal Digital Assistant -- A handheld wireless device to organize
information such as phone numbers and appointments that would be synchronized
with existing PC- or server-based information.

World Wide Web terminal -- A desktop device primarily intended for browsing the
Web, as well as word processing and sending and receiving email.

ISDN Video Phone -- A desktop device primarily intended for making video phone
calls, but which also allows recording and retrieving video messages and clips.
The machines will not need to be used with another video phone, but will be
able to access video and other data from databases on the server network.

Set-Top Box -- A network device intended for use with a television set. 
Elinor Mills is a correspondent for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld 
affiliate.
Copyright ) 1996 InfoWorld Publishing Company