PMS-Sierra: It's Network Computing Time

The chip maker is offering system builders a Linux-based reference design that they can use to develop thin clients for the enterprise, government, retail and digital-home markets.

PMC-Sierra, a MIPS licensee that manufactures the CPUs for use in networking devices and printers, said its new design offers system builders a low-power unit that will initially cost about $150 or less to build. The development unit includes a PMC-Sierra 64-bit MIPs CPU, 128 Mbytes of memory, an ATI Rage XL graphics controller with 8 Mbytes of memory, and traditional computer connectors such as Ethernet, USB and parallel ports.

PMC-Sierra executives said the thin-client system uses 90 percent less power than a typical Wintel configuration and requires no fan and no heat sink for the CPU.

The company is marketing the system under the name Xiao Hu, which means "little tiger" in Chinese. PMC-Sierra hopes the device will attract manufacturers of smart displays, interactive TVs and kiosks, as well as those serving corporate, government and education customers.

Doug Brownridge, vice president of corporate marketing for Burnaby, British Columbia-based PMC-Sierra, said the market is better prepared to accept network computing now. "Network computing in 1997 was too simplistic and didn't meet the needs of its users, but now the technology is more advanced and can meet those needs," he said.

Solution providers and analysts say the thin-client model makes sense in the enterprise, call centers and other company departments where employees access a fixed number of specific applications. Since the devices access all information from a centralized server, they are cheaper to manage. Instead of updating virus definitions on 3,000 desktops, for example, an administrator would update just a handful of servers.

Thin clients also cost less than desktops and are more secure, since users are unable to download unauthorized content to the desktop.

Despite these benefits, however, many industry players say the format is still a hard sell.

For U.S. companies that are used to storage onboard and a Windows operating system, network computing "is one of those ROI equations the market hasn't embraced," said Robert Wolfe, president and CEO of AvcomEast, a Silver Spring, Md., solution provider.

"There is a mentality to overcome," he said.