New Product Eases Transition to eCommerce

This summer Serenity Systems will deliver a platform enabling business desktop computers to easily manage the transition to ecommerce and ebusiness. The new eComStation(tm) products are based on IBM's award winning Intel based technologies and will be sold in Europe, the Americas, and Australia, through a network of distributors, VARs, and fee service consultants.

eComStation incorporates innovative features which enable the workstation to function as a Mobile Managed Client(tm), combining the design benefits of PCs with benefits previously associated with Network Computers or thin clients. Used with Serenity Systems' acclaimed WiseManager, the entire computing environment can be managed by a fee service provider from any location over Wide Area Networks or even over the Internet.

Though support for such services is available to small businesses, IBM's Rapid Deployment Team, a services organization headquartered in Austin, TX, has recently been certified on the products. This would indicate an interest in these products among the international enterprise accounts served by the IBM organization.

In its first release, due to ship in August, eComStation will run many Windows, DOS, Java, and OS/2 applications and can be a replacement for existing PC operating systems. Later this year Serenity Systems expects to announce support for Linux and expanded support for Windows. eComStation can run thin clients but also scales up to powerful workstations using IBM's Symmetric Multi-Processor (SMP) support for up to 64 processors, and IBM's Journaling File System (JFS). Pricing for the products ranges from $129 to $499 US.

According to Kim Cheung, Executive Director of Serenity Systems, "eComStation with the Mobile Managed Client features means that, for the first time, an organization can extend the powerful, cost reducing features associated with network managed computers ... to the laptops used by road warriors. Managed Client features are always part of the computer operation but when the network connection is available, even an Internet connection will do nicely, a higher level of Managed Client features can be invoked."

Despite the attractive cost benefits of network computing, Cheung feels the need for a constant network connection has been an unattractive leash, making the implementation feasible only for the small subset of business computer users. "eComStation takes Managed Client users off the leash", Cheung said, "allowing them to exceed the freedom associated with traditional PCs."

eComStation is designed with a focus on the Internet driven needs of ebusiness and ecommerce. Licensing agreements between IBM and Serenity Systems provide eComStation with a great deal of network integration and connectivity support, including the back-end support to highly scalable, multi-tier servers and databases. IBM is also supplying remote control software designed to allow authorized users to take over a remote PC. "That is a feature which will go a long way in enabling users to get operational support from anywhere in the organization or anywhere in the world." said Cheung.

The key value of eComStation is seen as the ability to deploy software, even the entire desktop, to users, departments, or throughout an entire organization during the transistion to server deployed ebusiness applications. According to Bob St.John, Director of Business Development, "Whatever the organization is using today will be considered the legacy system in three to five years. In that time, how many organizations are going to be able to afford to throw out everything that they are using today? Only eComStation sets an organization up to continue running these legacy environments and applications while transitioning to a new computing environment 'below the waterline'."

Cheung agreed, going on to say, "This is really a platform designed to support transition, something required by every organization because the entire computing industry is tranistioning at a rapid pace. To keep up with that pace while controlling costs, something like eComStation is a dead certain requirement."

"The support for OS/2 applications is particularly valuable", said Joachim Benjamins of Mensys in Holland. "There are millions of OS/2 users around the world who want more control over the ability to run their excellent OS/2 applications. And eComStation provides the best opportunity for them to have that control. eComStation features allow users to add support for applications and even operating systems, integrating them instead of forcing users to replace them."

Mark Rogers of Orion Solutions in Australia sees things in much the same way, "eComStation goes one better than support for a migration. It supports an organization through a transition. To me, the difference is the ability to seamlessly support multiple environments at the same time, without the user even noticing. That's the path eComStation is travelling.

For more information about eComStation, in the US call 888 299-6483, press 1, outside the US call 214 222-3414, press 1, Info@Serenity-Systems.com, http://www.Serenity-Systems.com, http://www.eComStation.com, http://ecomstation.mensys.nl. eComStation will be sold:

• in Europe by Mensys, http://www.mensys.nl
• in the United States by Indelible Blue, http://www.indelible-blue.com
• in Canada by Jacaranda Systems, http://www.jacarandasystems.com
• in Mexico and Latin America by Mati, http://www.mati.net.mx
• in Australia by Orion Solutions, http://www.orion-solutions.com.au