Vision Of 'Computer On A Card' Inches Closer To Reality

Somewhere on the horizon lies a day when road warriors will use the television in their hotel room not only to send and receive e-mail and to book travel on the Web, but also to access their personal files in their desktop computer.

It's the laptop lugger's idea of heaven, and the pieces of technology needed to get there already exist. The only question that remains is just how long it will take to string them all together.

A spate of recent developments in the technology arena seems to be encouraging, however, and vendors are beginning to define time frames in months instead of years. It should soon be possible, they say, to swipe a chip card through a network computer device like a television or a "dumb" computer-one with little software on it-connect through the Internet to your corporate server, and bring up a complete copy of your desktop, with all your files.

In March, Oracle subsidiary Network Computer Inc., Sun Microsystems, IBM and Netscape agreed to a set of standards for the chip cards that could connect the systems. On April 6, Microsoft shelled out $425 million to acquire WebTV Networks, adding its financial and technical clout to the concept. Chip cards are in the works at IBM and NCI, with release scheduled for next quarter. Zenith, RCA/Thomson, Philips and Sony are working on television interfaces, with set-top boxes going into trial this summer and Internet-ready televisions already in development. On Command, the company that brings us in-room video, is partnering with WebTV in testing Internet connectivity in hotel rooms, and preparing for a rollout to almost a million rooms nationwide before the year is out.

While WebTV's focus so far has been mostly on the home consumer market, the hospitality industry is preparing to offer in-room computer access to business travelers (see story, Page 47). From there, the leap to connecting to the corporate desktop is not difficult to make. Indeed, corporate travel buyers might already begin thinking about computer access as something to negotiate in their next round of talks with the hospitality industry.

At Oracle Corp.'s Open World Conference in Japan on April 16, chairman and CEO Larry Ellison demonstrated a new suite of corporate software products created by NCI for network computers, and announced partnerships with Digital Equipment Corp. and IBM's Lotus subsidiary, whose Kona suite of Java-based applications will hit the market later this year.

Jerry Baker, chief executive of Redwood Shores, Calif.-based NCI, said the company sees smart cards as an integral part of the network computer environment. "We think smart cards are the best way to allow users to access their data and applications, and the best way to allow us to personalize the desktop and the information that comes across to the user," he said. "You can use your smart card at your business, you can take your smart card home and plug it into your network computer at home, or you can take it on the road with you and plug it into a terminal at the airport or in your hotel room. And it can be used not only in our network computer devices, but also in those developed by other manufacturers."

Mary Ann Davidson, NCI's senior product manager for smart cards and security, said that until now, two issues have been standing in the way of that vision: a security system that will allow only the right person access to the right files, and standards to make that access ubiquitous through any network computer device. The smart card industry has solved these issues, she noted.

Cary Alexandre, product manager for Lotus network computer desktop products, said his company is encoding a private key as well as the public key to a corporate home server in the card, "setting up an encrypted session for you that no one can intercept. In addition, there is an identifier that tells the server who you are, so wherever you go, the system will bring up an interface that looks exactly like the interface on your computer at work."

By July, Indianapolis-based RCA Thomson will roll out network computer boxes that will sit atop television sets and accept smart cards, said spokesman Frank McCann. Expected retail price will be about $300. "The next logical step will be to build them into the televisions themselves," he said.

In the computer world in general, the movement to network computers is being spearheaded by Oracle and Sun Microsystems, the developer of the Java programming language. To a large extent, the concept of using network computer "dumb" terminals to access files over the Internet began as a sort of revolt against Microsoft Windows' domination of the software industry. But many say it has rapidly evolved into something much larger than that-a fact perhaps attested to by Microsoft's acquisition of WebTV, in what many say was its largest purchase ever.

"Microsoft's dilemma is that you don't need Windows to run network computers," Alexandre said. "Microsoft has this Windows cash cow, and network computers threaten to commoditize the operating system. But at the same time, big Bill Gates can't afford to miss the curve."

Indeed, at WebTV, Microsoft appears to be hedging its bets. "The smart card slots in WebTV devices are not currently activated," said an insider who asked not to be identified. "We are working with On Command to put WebTV boxes in 900,000 hotel rooms, and testing the usage and ways to bill customers. We definitely see it as a great application for business travelers, but we have no solid information to give out at this time."

Perhaps the best part is that the WebTV system will not only cost the hotel nothing, but in fact will yield an as-yet-undetermined revenue share. And unlike early attempts to put computers in hotel rooms (BTN, Nov. 11, 1996), On Command is putting in high-speed T1 lines at its own cost-allowing hotels to offload much of the normal traffic of laptop users from their own internal telephone system. On Command senior vice president of engineering Richard Fenwick said the company will explore a number of alternative pricing models beyond the current $3.95 an hour.

Scott Lewis, president of 4th Communications Network Inc. in San Jose, Calif., also sees linking hotels to corporate servers as the next important technology leap for the hospitality industry.

"This is absolutely the direction we are taking because the benefits far outweigh the work it takes to establish the pathways, and the need is so great," he said. "The biggest hurdle will be putting together partnerships in terms of the software that allows you to navigate back to the corporate network. Smart cards are only one of several ways to achieve that. There will be a mix of devices, including both televisions and computers, which provide a better interface in many ways."

So he is stepping up to the plate and offering to buy and install in-room computers at no charge to hotels. "That's our business-purchasing new technology and deploying it in the hospitality industry," he said.

Former Sun corporate travel manager Norm Rose, now president of Travel Tech Consulting in Belmont, Calif., said that while the network computer might take some time to reach every hotel room, it is too appealing a concept for the travel industry to dismiss.

"Most frequent travelers carry laptops, and the question of which of the competing architectures will win has not yet been decided," Rose said. "Until the whole world is wired, and plugging in is as easy as booting up your laptop, network computers might not be a practical alternative."

But for the travel industry as a whole, "moving to the Java standard instead of the Windows standard could save a tremendous amount of money in technology investment," he said.