FedEx delays network computers
From the article:
...After trying out several network computers as part of plans to install the devices on up to 75,000 desktops, the courier giant says it favours -- at least for now -- personal computers and Microsoft Corp. terminals using the Windows operating system instead.
Dennis Jones, the chief information technology officer at Memphis-based FDX Corp., a new holding company for FedEx, said the company was unable to find a network computer that met its needs after testing several since last fall.
Mr. Jones said "turmoil" in the NC marketplace and free-falling PC prices over the past year left him and his colleagues believing that PCs "are, at this point in time, the best choice."
However, Mr. Jones said FedEx is continuing to "work closely" with one NC vendor, Sun Microsystems Inc., and is using its JavaStation NCs in a pilot role.
"We believe thin-client technology will play an important part in the future, including the pure Java NCs," Mr. Jones added. FedEx might deploy NCs with PCs later in time, he said.
...FedEx wants to replace its mainframes with Hewlett Packard and Sun Unix servers as well as hundreds operating on Microsoft Windows NT to serve as many as 75,000 employees around the world.
Project Grid, to be completed by 2001, aims to let FedEx centralize its corporate applications software and cut its software administration and installation costs.
Two computer industry analysts bullish on NCs said FedEx's decision was not great news for the Java NC camp, but they added it is far too early to write off the future prospects of the network computer movement.
...The Corel NC is among three being tested by Northern Telecom Ltd. The other two machines being tested are the Sun JavaStation and an IBM NC.
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