mikeh@lupine.ncd.com (Mike Harrigan) (08/29/90)
NETWORK COMPUTING DEVICES INAUGURATES ENTRY-LEVEL X TERMINAL LINE WITH 19-INCH MONOCHROME UNIT PRICED AT $2,295 MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, July 16, 1990 -- The first member of a family of entry-level X Window System terminals designed to bring full multi-window graphics functionality to traditional terminal applications has been introduced by Network Computing Devices, Inc. The new NCD19b X terminal has the workstation-size-19-inch-diagonal bit-mapped monochrome display of NCD's year-old NCD19 unit, but with screen resolution of 1024 x 800 pixels rather than the NCD19's 1280 x 1024. This and the use of gate-array technology to achieve a high level of integration allow the NCD19b to be priced at $2,295, making it the lowest-priced 19-inch display on the market today. NCD Executive Vice President Judy Estrin said the NCD19b is the first member of a lower-cost line of X terminals -- both color and monochrome -- the company will introduce over the next year. Replacing ASCII and 3270 Terminals "In their first 18 months on the market, X terminals, which have previously ranged in price from $2,500 to $5,000, have often been seen as an alternative to diskless workstations," Estrin said. "Now, with vendors driving prices down, the X terminals are affordable to those users of ASCII and IBM 3270-type terminals who recognize the productivity benefits of windowing and a graphical interface. We expect our entry-level line to quickly penetrate traditional terminal applications such as transaction processing and general-purpose office automation -- applications where windowing is highly desirable but ultra-high resulting and performance aren't always essential." "NCD's entry-level line also disproves the argument that plummeting workstation prices will obviate the need for X terminals," Estrin added. "The same advance in technology that allow workstation vendors to improve and cost-reduce their products apply to X terminals. And the hardware cost associated with workstations' operating system overhead will ensure that the price differential continues to exist." Like all NCD X terminals, the NCD19b can simultaneously access multiple host computers running the UNIX, VMS, or ULTRIX operating systems, communicating the data for each session to the user through a separate display window. Combining 40 Chips Into One Text, windowing and two-dimensional graphics are driven by the NCD19b's 16-MHz MC68000 16-bit processor. Functions of approximately 40 discrete circuits from the NCD19 -- including graphics engines, memory and display controllers -- have been combined onto a single gate array chip. The unit's standard 2 MB of dynamic RAM memory is field-upgradeable to 5 MB (versus the NCD19's 8-MB maximum) using single in-line memory modules (SIMMs). "Even with the performance reductions we've made to offer the NCD19b at its low price," Estrin said, "the unit still operates up to three times as fast as Digital's recently-introduced 19-inch VT-1000 X terminal. Supporting the optimized version of the X.11 R4 server as other NCD X terminals, the NCD19b provides full software functionality, including backing store, save under, xdmcp (the X display manager control protocol), the shape extension feature for creating non-rectangular windows, and multiple local Telnet or LAT clients, both with VT220 emulation. The NCD19b is NCD's first product to provide industry-standard SNMP-based network management. Multiple Protocols Supported Multiple communication protocols -- TCP/IP, SLIP, Digital's DECnet and LAT, and NCD's XRemote for local and remote serial communication -- are supported. In addition to X applications, the NCD19b supports DECwindows and terminal-oriented applications. It works with any X graphical user interface, including OSF/Motif, OPEN LOOK or Xview. The ergonomically oriented NCD19b retains the product line's 13-inch-square base to minimize desk-space consumption. A 70-Hz non-interlaced refresh rate and 75-dot-per-inch resolution produce flicker-free images, while an internal convection cooling system eliminates the need for a noisy fan. Pricing/Availability Available 30 days after receipt of order, the NCD19b is priced starting at $2,295 with monitor, base, (with 2 MB RAM), choice of four keyboard styles (PS/2, UNIX, VT220 and Japanese Kana), mouse, one serial port and one Ethernet port. A 1 MB XRemote configuration is available for the same base price. A software license is an additional $50 per unit. Network Computing Devices, Inc., formed in February 1988, is a leading supplier of network display stations providing users simultaneous access to multi-vendor computers on a network via the industry-standard X Window System. The NCD16, NCD16e, NCD19, and NCD19b monochrome units, and the NCD17c color unit, offer workstation-style multi-user interfaces for users in the UNIX, VMS and ULTRIX operating system environments. NCD is privately held. Company Contact: Judy Estrin, Network Computing Devices, Inc. (415) 694-0650 info@ncd.com