The AUN product portfolio reinforces Acorn's support for the defacto educational operating system standard, RISC OS. By positioning Acorn systems at the heart of any network, AUN allows Acorn systems to be added to non-Acorn networks to perform tasks in which Acorn machines excel, such as curriculum use, pre-press and publishing and graphic design.
Visitors to BETT 95 can see OmniClient, the Access range and InterTalk, Acorn's new email, Internet and World Wide Web product, being used to network the Acorn stand to other major exhibitors at the show, including Apple, Microsoft, and a number of Acorn's key networking partners.
Peter Talbot, General Manager for UK Education at Acorn Computers, comments:
"Acorn Computers' AUN strategy encompasses some of the most innovative and advanced networking technologies currently available. The UK education system already leads the world with its creative use of technology. By continuing to develop world class solutions for schools, Acorn is helping to extend this leadership even further and is providing schools with a true technology and education advantage. With OmniClient, Acorn has come up with yet another industry first, a Whole School solution which enables Acorn computers to talk to everybody."
OmniClient software, which runs on any standard Acorn RISC OS client computer, performs all the tasks necessary to allow RISC OS based information to be stored, managed and retrieved from servers using alternative operating systems.
OmniClient users will be able to make maximum use of server-based CD ROMs and printers and access common files stored on the server such as JPEG, MPEG or text files, as well as GIF and TIFF files created on alternative platforms, and use them within RISC OS applications. Existing security measures controlling read or write access to specific files will be retained across client/server boundaries.
Files retrieved from the server, regardless of origin, will be displayed with the standard interface of the client computer. For example, Acorn users will be able to view and manipulate files created on a PC or a Mac in the RISC OS environment they are familiar with and vice versa. This is possible as information is stored on the server in the native format applicable to the host operating system.
OmniClient will be available in the second quarter of 1995.
Access Release 2 is designed for users taking their first steps in networking and is ideal for workgroup activities. Access +, which enables users to specify individuals or groups of users who may share resources, is for the more advanced network user. The data protection facility in Access + means teachers, IT co-ordinators or network managers can decide who receives information available on the network.
Access CDShare is used in conjunction with Access Release 2 or Access + and is ideal for people wishing to make the most of their CD ROM resources as it provides optimised multimedia sharing performance on a site wide basis.
All new Access products will be available in the second quarter of 1995.
Each Access Release 2 pack comes complete with:
Founded in 1978, with 1993 revenues of £54.3m, Acorn Computers is the premier supplier of IT solutions to UK education and has been the world's first supplier of low cost, 32-bit RISC based personal computers since 1987. Acorn works closely with a strong community of industry partners, users and software developers to provide innovative technology solutions for the education, consumer, publishing and international markets.
Acorn Computer Group plc is the holding company for Acorn Computers Limited, Acorn Australia, Acorn New Zealand, Acorn GmbH and Online Media. Acorn Computer Group owns 43% of Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. Online Media, a division of the Acorn Computer Group, was launched in 1994 with the mission to design world class, interactive multimedia products.
* MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group) is a scheme which allows video and audio signals to be encoded and decoded using highly efficient digital reduction or compression techniques. JPEG, GIF and TIFF are three of the more common formats for storing still images, using various degrees of compression.
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