3station

1 definition found

3station - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  3Station
  
     <computer, networking> The archetypal diskless workstation,
     developed by Bob Metcalfe at 3Com and first available in
     1986/1987.
  
     The 3Station/2E had a 10 MHz 80286 processor, 1 MB of
     RAM (expandable to 5 MB), VGA compatible graphics with 256
     KB of video RAM, and integrated AUI/BNC network
     transceivers for LAN access.
  
     The product used a single printed-circuit board with four
     custom ASICs.  It had no floppy disk drive or hard disk,
     it was booted from a server and stored all end-user
     files there.
  
     3Com advertised "significant cost savings" due to the
     3Station's ease of installation and low maintenance (this
     would now be referred to under the banner of "TCO").
  
     The 3Station cost somewhere between an IBM PC clone and an
     IBM PC of the day.  It was not commercially successful.
  
     (2000-07-05)