IBM's NC Does Windows

ENT, March 4, 1998 by Joseph Mckendrick

For the past 2 years, IBM Corp.'s driving strategy has been to open up its entire range of machines and operating systems -- mainframes, midrange computers, UNIX systems and PCs -- to the network computer. Recently, the company announced it is rounding out the Windows NT component of this initiative by embedding Citrix Systems Inc.'s Windows terminal technology into its NC offerings. Ft. Lauderdale-based Citrix's Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol, which features WinFrame technology, will be incorporated into IBM's Network Station family of NCs, and possibly into PC products.

IBM's Network Stations support ASCII terminal emulation for UNIX hosts, AS/400 5230 emulation capabilities, a Java virtual machine, mainframe 3270 emulation, and a built-in Web browser from Spyglass Inc. (Naperville, III.). Users can access Windows applications via Citrix's WinFrame server, which accesses a Windows NT server on the network, or they can access applications via WinCenter Pro from Network Computing Devices (Mountain View, Calif.).

Through marketing agreements, Citrix has worked with the IBM PC Company for about 2 years, initially developing WinFrame to bring Windows applications to OS/2-based systems, says Mark Templeton, president of Citrix. "This licensing agreement is a natural extension of the relationship we've built over the years," he says.

Citrix's ICA approach puts all processing on the server, and away from the user interface. Thus, ICA-based applications consume as little as one-tenth of their normal network bandwidth over dial-up, WAN and LAN connections. Windows applications can be accessed from existing PCs, Windows terminals and network computers. "The user interface appears on a remote display, while the application engine executes on the server," Templeton explains. "Only the keystrokes, keyboard, input and screen updates travel the wire. Applications can be deployed over narrow pipes."