DETAILS OF THE NEW NETWORK COMPUTING REFERENCE PROFILE 1

The NC Reference Profile consists of a set of open standards and guidelines, which form the basis of an NC. The initial NC Reference Profile will be made available in July 1996, for comment and review, and is expected to be finalized by participants in August 1996. The proposed NC profile is expected to include:

• The following resources guidelines:
- minimum screen resolution of 640 x 480 (VGA) or equivalent
- pointing device
- text input capability
- audio output
- persistent local storage not required

• Internet Protocol—NC devices participate in an IP-based network and will support IP as an underlying protocol. Specific hardware attachment to the network is not specified.

• The following IP-based protocols:
- TCP—the Transmission Control Protocol creates a stream-based network above IP. Secure connections, if supported, are provided by the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
- FTP—the File Transfer Protocol allows NC-branded devices to exchange files using the popular FTP protocol. This is required only for those NCs, which implement either a local or distributed file system and support file transfer.
- Telnet—telnet is a standard client/server protocol, which enables character-based terminal emulation access to remote hosts. This is required only for those NCs, which support a character-based console access to remote hosts.
- NFS—Network File System supports distributed file systems for NC devices. NCs, which do not implement a distributed file system, need not implement this protocol.
- UDP—the User Datagram Protocol is utilized by NFS and enables end-to-end application-specific communications.
- SNMP—Simple Network Management Protocol enables NC devices to participate in a network-managed environment
- The following boot and configuration options:
-- DHCP—to simplify administration and installation Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol enables an NC to boot itself over the network, to dynamically acquire an IP address and to transmit configuration information over the network.
-- Bootp—enables an NC to boot over the network

• The following World Wide Web standards:
- HTML—HyperText Markup Language is the publishing format for WWW sites (including CGI).
- HTTP—HyperText Transfer Protocol allows browsers to communicate with remote Web servers and for servers to communicate with NCs.
- Java Application Environment
-- the Java Virtual Machine and runtime environment
-- Java class libraries

• The following mail protocols:
- SMTP—Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- IMAP4—Internet Message Access Protocol Version 4
- POP3—Post Office Protocol Version 3

• The following common multimedia formats:
- JPEG
- GIF
- WAV
- AU

• Security features supported through emerging APIs
- Optional security standards:
-- ISO 7816 (Smartcards)
-- Europay/MasterCard/Visa specifications

Additionally, the NC Reference Profile will include recommendations for printing.

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