Big Blue bags NC as part of network plan.

The IBM PC company has flown under the radar and installed network computers (NCs) six months before the launch of an Oracle device, it emerged last week.

Ozzie Osborne, VP of systems strategy at the PC company, said that Lou Gerstner's network-centric view of the market had already come to fruition and the channel would benefit from the changes.

'Hardware is not what's important,' Osborne said. 'Our customers are looking for solutions and our business is to help them run their business.

The Internet is much wider than a piece of hardware.'

IBM has tested 15 different network-centric products and was in the final stages of testing seven. But it has already installed a commercial device in one US company and will install another 2,000 machines in another firm this month.

'We're still viewing this as a trial period but these are ways of solving the problem of the cost of ownership,' said Osborne. 'What we're seeing is that hardware is a relatively small piece of the market.'

He added that this meant devices like these would not impact channel margins because resellers would be able to offer services and support through deals with IBM.

The PC company's notebook market is also set to change, he said. IBM is piloting a PDA-like device which should allow end users to access their electronic mail without high hardware overheads.

'The nomad marketplace has multiple needs,' said Osborne. 'A nomad doesn't have anything apart from the mobile. He doesn't need the functionality of the desktop and you've got to segment the mobile worker market.'

This segmentation means different markets for portable devices with products like the Thinkpads aimed at specific niches. Osborne revealed that IBM was in discussion with a major hotel chain to install a bedroom-based unit which would access email.

Again, he said, the channel would not be affected by these types of deals. 'We're going to be driving the value side of that business rather than simply pushing the technology.'