SCO has released a new version of its Tarantella software, aimed at dominating the Web-based Windows applications market.

Santa Cruz, Calif.-based SCO made the announcement last month, claiming the software is designed to dethrone current market leader Citrix MetaFrame. The latest version, Tarantella Enterprise II, is the brainchild of engineers in SCO's client integration division, which houses the PC-to-Unix products from the acquisitions of IXI and VisionWare.

The software is designed to assist IS people in making Windows-based applications available across their organizations using Web browsers as the delivery medium. Essentially, the software allows a company's IT department to become a micro-ASP.

John Fisher, country manager of Toronto-based SCO Canada Inc., says the product was conceived as a response to what IS people were asking for. "What the IS people are telling us," he says, "is that they want to be able to customize user desktops remotely."

Tarantella Enterprise II is based on Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), which allows applications hosted by Tarantella to be used in both Web browsers, such as Navigator and Internet Explorer, and in native client software for older systems.

The Tarantella software is set up on an intermediary server between the application servers and the users. It is available for different Unix platforms, including Compaq Tru64 Unix, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Siemens Reliant Unix and, of course, SCO UnixWare.

Most of the applications run on this intermediary server, with only screen refresh commands being sent down the pipe to the user. This results in several advantages, SCO claims. If the network connection goes down, or if the user's computer crashes, the application remains open on the server, and the user can get access to it again upon rebooting or by transferring to another computer or network.

SCO is hoping to usurp Citrix MetaFrame as the deployment software of choice, and to do so the company is offering discounts to resellers who convert current Citrix customers to the Tarantella software. "We know there are (customer) sites out there that are unhappy with Citrix" says Fisher. "If you're replacing a shop with more than 50 seats you only have to buy one Tarantella seat for every 10 seats you replace."

With Tarantella listing at US$4,925 for a 25-user license, that means a 250-seat Citrix solution could be replaced for under US$20 a seat.

So what does Citrix believe? "We believe SCO is really telling the world that our MetaFrame product has a 10:1 value over a Tarantella licence by requiring only one Tarantella licence for every 10 MetaFrame licences that they replace," says Robert Bartolotta, manager of public relations for Citrix Systems Inc. "So we think that those are pretty good odds. Obviously, I'm being a little facetious, but I think it's validating our product in the marketplace and underscoring the value that a lot of enterprise customers put on a MetaFrame system."

Tarantella will ship this month, and the replacement promotion will be available for the first six months of this year. Resellers will also be required to complete a one- or two-day certification program to be allowed to sell the software.

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