All: IBM to press network computer standards
By Richard Melville
NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Seeking to create a bigger
market for its network computers, International Business
Machines Corp will offer competitors the software it uses to
link network stations to servers.
IBM's move is a bid to establish an industry standard and
avoid repeating costly mistakes it made in the past when it
favored its own, proprietary technology in personal computers.
"Unlike the old IBM, we're not on a track to try to corner
the market," IBM Network Computer division General Manager Bob
Dies said in a telephone interview.
"Instead, our goal is to make the functionality we already
have fairly ubiquitous," he said. "What will happen then is,
because we'll be knocking away the inhibitors, hopefully the
market will grow faster."
Several companies, including Sun Microsystems Inc <SUNW.O>
and Oracle Corp <ORCL.O>, have been vocal advocates of the
network computer, or NC, approach. If accepted, the technology
could mean competition for Microsoft Corp's <MSFT.O> Windows
and Intel Corp's <INTC.O> microprocessor technology on the
corporate desktop.
Dies said IBM will pursue two approaches. In some cases it
will offer code to standards boards, where, if accepted, it
would be available for free, industry use. In other cases, IBM
will license code.
"We'll turn major pieces of it over to standards boards and
there are things down the road we might overly invest in which
I would sell," Dies said. "Some people will be more than
willing to pay us for it. It sure beats trying to write it."
Industry analysts have estimated IBM could ship up to
100,000 network stations in 1997, a paltry figure when compared
to personal computer sales but a considerable headstart in the
young universe of NCs.
Any transition to NCs is expected to be slow. A study by
market research firm Gartner Group Inc <GART.O> stated NCs are
likely to co-exist with rather than replace personal computers
during the first years of adoption.
Users of a network computer - or network station, as IBM
refers to its version -- access applications and data through a
small device on their desks.
The approach is also referred to as "thin client," because
users' machines do not store operating system software,
applications or other data. IBM's current model weighs a little
more than a pound, excluding the keyboard and monitor.
Upgrades and other changes to the system all take place at
the server and require no desk-to-desk attention, a difference
that has led some analysts to estimate savings rates of up to
40 percent compared to personal computers.
Microsoft and others have championed an alternate model,
termed "NetPC," which relies on stripped-down personal
computers administered by networks. IBM has already shelved
earlier plans to develop NetPC models.
Partners of Microsoft also plan eventually to deliver
Windows-terminals, a setup that will operate under a modified
version of the Windows operating system.
IBM, which also has a multi-billion dollar personal
computer business, has been nearly invisible in the NC-NetPC
debate, but its network computing division stands to benefit
greatly if the NC approach succeeds.
A new model of IBM's network station, which makes more
complete use of code written in Sun's Java language, is slated
for release later this year.
When active, it can be instructed to link to essentially
any servers, large or small, IBM or not.
But for now, IBM's software only allows IBM servers to
deliver the instructions that "wake up" IBM stations, loading
them with the various software permissions and preferences
related to the user who has logged on to the client device.
With the development glitches worked out in the controlled
environment of IBM-only hardware, the company is taking the NC
to the broader market.
"Now that the hard part is done, the obvious next step is
to roll it out where it's not restricted to IBM servers or IBM
clients," Dies said.
He said several companies were already working to adapt the
software but declined to name them until work progressed
further.
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REUTERS
Copyright REUTER 16:00 10-31-97 |
