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Toshiba joins the business crowd

Toshiba makes its long-anticipated entry into the business PC market, as it launches the Equium series of PCs targeted at small and medium-sized businesses.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Toshiba made its long-anticipated entry into the business PC market today by launching the Equium series of PCs targeted at small and medium-sized businesses.

The systems come loaded with advanced features such as high-performance networking technology, high-end 3D video chips, fast CD-ROM drives, new Intel "Cumberland" motherboards, and MMX Pentium processors or Pentium Pro processors.

Toshiba join the ranks of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq in the increasingly important small business market.

Ultimately, Toshiba intends to put more emphasis on selling to large corporations by bringing out server computers to complement its desktop and notebook PCs. The servers are due for introduction in 1998, according to Michael Wagner, director desktop marketing at the computer systems division of Toshiba.

"This is an 18-to-24 month process. We intend to build on the relationships we have established on the notebook front," according Wagner. Toshiba is currently the largest notebook PC vendor in the world.

Toshiba has parlayed its expertise in notebook PCs into cutting-edge features on the desktop. This includes "Instant On" technology, which allows the computer to wake up instantly from a "sleep mode" at the point where the computer was last used. Even when the computer is "sleeping," it can be accessed by information system personnel for management purposes, the company said.

All systems are Desktop Management Interface (DMI) 2.0 compliant. DMI is a standard which allows information system personnel to remotely manage and diagnose hardware in the PC.

The Equium 5160D and 5200D come with Intel 166- and 200-MHz MMX Pentium processors respectively. All systems include 12X CD-ROM drives, 32MB of memory, 2.2GB hard disk drives, 100-megabit Intel networking technology, Universal Serial Bus ports, Intel LANDesk software, and Windows 95.

The 5160D is priced at $1,899; the 5200D costs $2,099.

The 6200M and 6200D lines come with Pentium Pro processors running at 200 MHz. The 6200M mini-tower model includes a 4.6GB hard disk drive and other features common to the Equium line. The 6200D desktop model includes a 3.1GB hard disk drive.

The 6200M is priced at $3,499 and the 6200D at $2,499.

Monitors are sold separately.