IBM to announce its biggest network computer order.
NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - International Business
Machines Corp. has been awarded a contract to replace
personal computers used by a British-based travel agency with
more than 2,000 network computers and servers, in its largest
order to date in the fledgling computing segment.
IBM is expected to make a formal announcement of the
contract on Thursday. Under the agreement, it will equip
Carlson Worldchoice with 2,000 of its Network Station network
computers -- the low-cost, stripped-down devices that some
companies have pitched as replacements for personal computers
on corporate desktops.
IBM will also install 400 of its Netfinity 3500 model
server computers. The Netfinity is IBM's line of servers based
on Intel Corp. processors.
While IBM declined to offer a price tag on the contract,
industry sources estimated the value of the deal at about $5
million, based on pricing for the various hardware.
While that is small for a company of IBM's size, it still
would rank as the company's largest single NC order and
represents something of a vote of confidence in the technology
even as some other computer companies have shown signs of
backing away from the segment.
Network computers failed to achieve the widespread
acceptance early advocates such as Oracle Corp. had
hoped for, in large part because much of their potential price
advantage evaporated amid a sharp decline in PC prices.
Still, analysts have looked to transaction-intensive
industries such as travel and finance, where many companies
relied on terminals linked to mainframes in the past, as likely
fertile ground for network computers.
Carlson Worldchoice, a unit of Minneapolis-based Carlson
Cos. Inc., will use the new equipment to replace its existing
personal computers. The new setup will also rely on Sun
Microsystems Inc.'s Java programming environment for
much of its network and Internet function.
((Richard Melville, New York newsroom, 212-859-1731)) |
