Network Computer Reference Profile

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Network Computer Reference Profile (NC reference profle, NCRP) was a specification for a network computer put forward by Oracle Corporation, endorsed by Sun Microsystems, IBM, Apple Computer, and Netscape, and finalized in 1996.

The first version of this specification was known as the NC1 Reference Profile.

NCRP specified minimum hardware requirements and software protocols. Among the software requirements were support of IP-based protocols (TCP/IP, FTP, etc.), www standards (HTTP, HTML, Java Application Environment), e-mail protocols, multimedia file formats, security standards.

The minimum hardware requirements were

minimum screen resolution of 640 x 480 (VGA) or equivalent
pointing device
text input capability
audio output

Although this initial NC standard was intended to promote the diskless workstation model of computing, it did not preclude computers with additional features, such as the ability to operate either as a diskless workstation or a conventional fat client. Thus, an ordinary PC having all the required features, could technically be classified as a Network Computer; indeed, Sun noted that contemporary PCs did indeed meet the NC reference requirements.^[1]

[edit] Options

Many NCs operated via protocols such as BOOTP, DHCP, RARP and NFS.

Both for ISP-bound and LAN-based reference implementation NCs, a smartcard option was available. This allowed user authentication to be performed in a secure manner, with SSL providing transport security. The smartcard also provided minimal local storage for ISP dialup configuration settings. This configuration data was not required for LAN-based NCs.