NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Sun Microsystems Inc. is expected to introduce slimmed-down computer "appliances" Wednesday, but the company won't tout the new technology with the "PC-killer" rhetoric that has accompanied previous efforts.
Acknowledging that full-function PCs have a firm grip on the corporate world, Sun is aiming the book-sized Sun Ray 1 at smaller markets such as call centers or university labs. Other targeted markets include government, the back offices of financial institutions and outsourcing organizations.An appliance is a computer industry term for simple machines whose main function is to connect to the Internet.
The idea, which Sun articulated last week when it acquired software maker Star Division Corp., is that these "dumb" terminals would be linked together by a server. With an underlying technology called Hot Desk, users could hook up to any machine on the network with a smart card, even if the user was at a remote location.
Part of the appeal of such technology is it would get companies "off the upgrade train," said Duane Northcutt, chief technologist for Sun's information appliances and Webtop business unit.
"In three years' time, the top-of-the-line PC is rubble, landfill, worse than inert," he said.
Sun is offering two pricing plans for the technology, both of them aggressive. For companies already outfitted with servers, Sun will lease a keyboard, mouse and the enterprise appliance for $9.99 a month. The price of monitors isn't included.
For $30 a month, Sun will install the machines and provide the servers, plus monitors for the appliances.
Ultimately, Sun sees the smart-card concept working its way into the consumer realm. But Northcutt said that won't happen until there is widespread availability of high-speed broadband Internet lines.
"That's really a vision of the future," Northcutt said. "We have technology that's ready to ride the wave when broadband hits."
Sun and other companies, notably Oracle Corp., have long touted the concept of dumb computers hooked to smart networks. But the efforts had little impact on the demand for fully-equipped PCs, which continue to drop in price.
Only last week, Sun announced an ambitious effort to break Microsoft Corp.'s lock on the market for business software. With Star Division, users can download spreadsheet and word processing software off the Internet for free.
The Sun Ray products, which Sun will show in Manhattan Wednesday, will serve as the hardware mate to the Star Division software.