Sun Servers Paired With NIC Co. Internet AppliancesSun Servers Paired With NIC Co. Internet Appliances

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's company, New Internet Computer Co., will pair Sun Microsystems' Cobalt Qube 3 Linux servers with its Internet appliance and market them to small businesses and schools.

With the two appliances, small companies will gain access to E-mail and the Internet with a minimal financial investment and little need for tech-savvy network administrators, NIC CEO Gina Smith says. "Schools can't afford to have an IS guy in the classroom all day," Smith says. And because the NIC Internet appliance lacks a hard drive and an operating system, tech issues that usually require a help-desk technician to resolve are nonexistent. The most common problem NIC's help-desk workers face is fielding calls from users who insert the startup CD upside down, Smith says.

3Com Corp.'s Audrey and Netpliance Inc.'s I-opener Internet appliances fell short because they were going after first-time Internet users and restricted the types of sites customers could browse and the Internet service providers they could use, Smith says. NIC markets its device as a low-cost second or third computer, and it supports various Internet services as well as the Linux operating system.

Internet appliances may fill a void for certain niche markets such as education and hospitality that need to offer Internet access at a low cost, but their functionality is too limited to ever replace PCs, says Brian O'Rourke, a Cahners In-Stat senior analyst. "Because Internet appliances don't let you do spreadsheets and word processing, small businesses would need a more versatile tool," O'Rourke says. "Midsize or larger enterprises might have certain jobs that only require Internet access, but the enterprise market is going to remain PC-dominant for several years to come because the PC is such a versatile machine."

Pricing for a minimum of five NIC Internet appliances combined with Sun's Cobalt Qube 3 server starts at $2,995.