Acorn Universal Networking is a strategy developed to suit the requirements of its customers and to make use of advances in new technologies. AUN will continue to evolve as network technologies do, bringing areas such as networked Full Motion Video (FMV), multimedia and the information superhighway to the desks of Acorn users.

Based on Ethernet cabling, AUN places Acorn computers at the heart of whole-site networks, providing maximum power and performance for information and data management whilst enabling cross-platform connectivity. Acorn servers and clients are fully capable of sitting on networks, and communicating with PCs and Macs over the same Ethernet cabling.

AUN can provide a complete site-wide network, or just the tools necessary to link one or two computers in a small-room network with or without connection to the wider world of the Internet. AUN brings together the range of networking products and peripherals which ensure that a product is available to suit every requirement whether it be simple or complex, long or short distance, purely Acorn or cross-platform.

Products from Acorn in the AUN range

Acorn SchoolServer - Acorn's powerful server for use within large mixed networks which potentially include Acorn, PC and Apple Macintosh computers.

SchoolServer provides the necessary file-server hardware and software to act as a 'whole site' storage, distribution and data management solution. The SchoolServer package includes Power PC, RISC based file-server hardware, a powerful data management system in Windows NT Server and Acorn OmniClient which facilitates seamless connectivity to RISC OS based clients.

Acorn Access range - Acorn's peer-to-peer user friendly networking product.

Access+ gives the user the capacity to share hard discs, CD-ROM drives and printers with other users, unrestricted access in an efficient and easy-to-use manner, with the option to password protect data if required.

Access CDShare further expands the multimedia capability of the Access range of products to allow CD-ROM sharing on a site-wide basis.

Level 4 release 3 - Acorn's AUN server for RISC OS only environments. Level .

4 is ideal for application serving and sharing of precious resources such as printers among a classroom of users. To speed the critical delivery of software to client machines, Level 4 release 3 incorporates an 'application accelerator' that facilitates very fast file transfers from server to client and vice versa, providing the user with a fast and adaptable file server that is flexible and efficient.

TCP/IP release 2 - protocol and remote log-on pack. TCP/IP is a packaged non-proprietary high-level protocol, commonly used by 90 per cent of the world's computer community and ideal for connecting with non-Acorn platforms and gaining access to wide area networks via the Internet.

OmniClient - In addition to TCP/IP, Acorn has developed a universal client which will allow a RISC OS client to access non-AUN networks such as Acorn SchoolServer, LanManager, Windows for Workgroups and NFS. Netware and Apple solutions are currently being reviewed. This technology is a piece of software only, working without additional hardware and with no change to the server required. This allows clients to use a variety of servers to share and serve data such as RISC OS applications, text, JPEGs, MPEGs and other common data types. The technology also enables clients to use printers connected to PC or Apple computers. The user will see the files in RISC OS format and be able use them as if the information was sited on any other RISC OS machine.

InterTalk - This product provides e-mail capability, together with functionality for internal newsgroup creation and external USENET Newsgroup access. In single-user and site-wide formats it can be used to achieve electronic communications from the home or to meet the requirements of whole-site connectivity and communications via the Internet. A World Wide Web browser is currently being developed and will be included as standard when it becomes available.

Backward compatibility - In order to ensure that Acorn's customers retain the value and benefits of their existing investments, Acorn has ensured that all of the products within the AUN range are capable of fully inter-operating on local area networks. This means that purchasers of new Acorn networking products can employ a fully structured approach to updating and administering their networks, whilst retaining their productivity throughout the process.

Developments for AUN

AUN has developed in four main areas to meet the changing needs of our users and to bring the additional benefits from new technologies to Acorn networks:

Connectivity - In addition to the connectivity that OmniClient and TCP/IP provide, the use of the Internet and the electronic transfer of information along what has become known as the information superhighway is increasing month by month. Acorn is developing a range of AUN products to make access to the Internet and computer-to-computer communication as easy and economical as possible. Products able to offer e-mail, USENET Newsgroups via InterTalk and World Wide Web browsers are intended to do exactly this, giving Internet access whilst retaining the same friendly RISC OS working environment. .

Multimedia performance - To meet the increasing demands placed on the network by multimedia, the AUN product range has been developed to enable the sharing of CD-ROMs on a site-wide basis, either from a server or on a peer-to-peer basis. CD-ROM sharing will enable several machines to distribute multimedia-based information over the network.

Performance - AUN ensures that the current Acorn networking products are continually enhanced and improved. .

As well as constant updates in performance for all products, Acorn's third party developers are in the process of developing servers with ever-increasing performance, enabling users to keep server hardware to a minimum and to make cost-effective use of their network resources.

Flexibility - We are gradually reaching the stage when most computers will be connected to a network of some sort. Acorn is constantly developing its networking product range to give the maximum in choice and flexibility to Acorn users looking for total solutions or for individual products. This maintains the crucial backward compatibility which is key to the practical implementation of networks which bring a host of long-term benefits to their 'owners' and users.

Following the modular approach of the Risc PC, users can start with a simple Access network and build to a complete establishment-wide LAN. Acorn provides networking solutions which will grow and develop as your needs grow and develop.

Acorn is also exploring the evolving technology of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) which may be implemented to increase substantially the amount of information (mainly multimedia) that is transportable over your local or wide area network. .

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