At the end of the public demonstration class, the students had already left the venue, but the audience below did not leave, but began to gather backstage, which is the consulting service office set up by Aikang Computer.

"I would like to ask, how much is your company's quotation for the construction of such a computer classroom?"

Principal White of San Marino High School, who had been seated closer to the doorway leading to the back of the auditorium, was one of the first people to walk briskly over to consult. As soon as he sat down, he asked the question that was most important to him.

"Hello sir, may I ask your school, how many students are expected to have in each class?" asked White, a white girl with a few freckles, with a professional smile.

"Twenty people in each class!" White said after a moment's thought.

"Yes, sir, one of the most important devices in our computer solution is the networked server, which is also the most expensive device in the entire system, costing $8,000.

At the same time, I also recommend that you equip each classroom with one or two extra spare computers, so that if there is a computer failure that needs to be repaired, it will not affect the normal class of students!"

The girl took the calculator placed next to her, and while calculating, she reported to the client: "An ABC-2 computer for a teacher costs $2,899, an ABC-1 computer for 21 students costs $1,189 each, and a server costs $8,000." In addition, each ABC computer also needs to be equipped with an adapter for networking needs, which our company calls a network card, and each network card costs 150 US dollars. This will cost $39,168 for all the hardware.

In addition, there is the cost of the software, which is a list of all the software that we provide at Aikang Computer. Of course, it is undoubtedly very uneconomical to buy each item separately, such as the East-Dos operating system, which costs $49 per copy.

That's why we designed a software package for our school customers, each computer uses 10 teaching software, including the East-DOS operating system, and the license fee is only $150, or $3,300 for 22 computers!

Therefore, the total investment in building a computer classroom in your school is 42,468 US dollars. As for the installation and commissioning and other manual services, our Ankang computers are all free of charge, and at the same time, we also give a one-year after-sales warranty service!"

It only cost more than $40,000 to build such a computer classroom, and the school's previous budget of $100,000 was enough to build two computer classrooms.

"Okay, thank you!" White smiled at her, "but I'll need to discuss it with the others and make a decision later." ”

"Is it convenient to leave a business card? I'll contact you after you think about it for a few days!" The girl couldn't help but feel a little sorry when she saw that the business was not negotiated on the spot, but she still wanted to find another opportunity to fight for it.

"It's my business card, but in a few days, I'll make a decision very quickly. If my school chooses to buy your company's products, I'll come back to you later, thank you for your service, miss!" White smiled gentlemanly and stood up to give up his place to the others in the back waiting for advice.

Unlike principals, who are generally concerned about how much money is needed to build such a computer classroom, the computer teachers who came to the exhibition were undoubtedly more interested in the computers and networked teaching systems on the booths.

The networked teaching system created by Aikang Computer is actually the prototype of the LAN in later generations. Last year, several scientists who invented Ethernet resigned from Xerox and founded a company called 3. 3 companies have already developed an Ethernet adapter, which is commonly known as a network card.

However, Company 3 mainly designs network adapters for large and small central hosts such as IBM and DEC, and they do not focus on microcomputers at all. Because the microcomputer of this era is only a personal toy of computer enthusiasts in the eyes of the vast majority of people, and there is no need for networking at all.

This state of affairs will not change until the mid-80s, when PC-compatible computers appeared in large numbers and gradually replaced the position of small computers in the business office field.

But Li Xuan was keenly aware of the opportunity, although the microcomputer, known as a personal computer, was 108,000 miles worse than the small computer in terms of performance. But he is cheaper, for example, a classroom LAN connected to more than 20 computers, the total investment is only 50,000 US dollars.

A DEC VAX system, which also has more than 20 users, requires at least $200,000 for a small machining terminal device. Moreover, the minicomputer system also needs to build a special computer room, and the system administrator needs to go through technical training. Not to mention the huge post-maintenance costs, the upfront investment of $200,000 alone is beyond the reach of most small and medium-sized businesses.

Therefore, although the performance of the LAN system developed by Aikang is not necessarily very high, it is undoubtedly very attractive to schools and small companies.

"This is the server required for networking, and its main task is to manage the number of data shared by the network and storage, and at the same time act as a bridge for the exchange of data between microcomputers. Therefore, its performance is higher than that of ordinary microcomputers, you can understand it as a low-end version of the minicomputer, this networked server of our Aikang company, uses a Motorola 68000 processor. ”

John pointed to the chassis under the desk of the podium, which was one size larger than the main chassis of the ABC computer, and said to the audience gathered next to him, "Its use is not complicated, our company has compiled an operation manual, if you understand the computer, you can probably get started after reading it! If you really encounter a problem that you can't solve, our after-sales maintenance engineer of Aikang Company will go over to deal with it within 24 hours." ”

Listening to the heated discussion of the networked operating system of Aikang Company, a few people who boasted of good technology and were anxious to get John's consent to operate the computer themselves and feel the magic of this networked system.

Thomas stood silently behind him, observing the excitement and excitement on the faces of the crowd, and he had a keen instinct as a journalist that the Akon company was prepared this time, as if a new era was about to emerge.

Thomas listened for a while and then went back to the consultation area, where there were more people than there were at the booth. The 15 consultation windows temporarily set up by Aikang Company were all lined up. He was about to go to one of the counseling desks to investigate, but he noticed that not far away, Principal White, Ms. Leigh Wang, and several other people from San Marino High School were gathering to discuss something.

As soon as Thomas approached them, he heard the new computer teacher say in an excited tone: "This networked system of Aikang is so easy to use, it will make our teaching pressure much easier." I plan to increase the number of students in each computer teaching class from 20 to 25, so that more students have the opportunity to take computer courses!"

Computer courses are not required by the school district, but are elective courses for students who are interested in computer literacy. According to the original plan, two computer teachers will each lead only two teaching classes per semester, with 20 students in each teaching class.

That said, only 80 students at San Marino High School have the opportunity to take computer courses each semester. But if the teacher is willing to increase the number of students in each class to twenty-five, one hundred students can take computer courses each semester. This is naturally good news for the school.

"Then it's decided, choose Aikang's networked teaching system! I'll sign the agreement right away, let them come to the school to install the machine!" Principal White glanced at the chairman of the school board beside him, and found that she nodded approvingly, and immediately made a categorical decision.

PS: Tickets, tickets, don't forget!