InformationWeek SMB TechEncyclopedia

(1) (Network Interface Card) See network adapter. See also InterNIC.

(2) (New Internet Computer) An earlier Linux-based computer from The New Internet Computer Company (NICC), Palo Alto, CA. The NIC was a pure Web appliance without disk drives, and the OS, Java Virtual Machine and browser all resided on a CD-ROM. An Internet storage service was required to save files, but bookmarks were saved in flash memory. For e-mail, a Web-based service was required. Co-founded in 2000 by Oracle magnate Larry Ellison, the NIC was a new incarnation of the network computer, but it never caught on. See network computer and Internet appliance.




The NIC
The Linux-based New Internet Computer was a pure Web appliance introduced in 2000 at $199 sans monitor. Without drives, files had to be stored on an Internet storage service. (Image courtesy of The New Internet Computer Company.)