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October 21, 1996 9:30 AM ET IBM remaps its NC plans Scraps InterPersonal Computer scheme to avoid AS/400 overlap By Lisa Dicarlo

Ê IBM Personal Computer Co. is scaling back its network computer strategy in an effort to avoid overlap with its AS/400 division and focus on making the devices easy to manage.

The Somers, N.Y., IBM division has killed plans for its own NC, dubbed the InterPersonal Computer, and will support instead the Network Station design announced last month by the AS/400 group, said sources familiar with the plans.

IBM officials had been showing prototypes of an all-in-one design and other manifestations of its InterPersonal Computer in recent months (see PC Week, June 24,

Instead of hardware, IBM will focus on server software called LCC (LAN Client Control) that will enable IS administrators to bring robust network functionality to a low-cost PC or a Network Station, according to sources.

LCC detects when a client is on and automatically assigns a TCP/IP address to the client, formats the hard drive, installs an operating system and sets up a graphical user environment, sources said.

The software is another tool IS administrators will be able to use to manage forthcoming Network Stations, they said.

IBM may revisit the idea of developing a hardware client for LCC, but it is likely to take the form of an Intel-based low-cost "thin" desktop rather than a device that adheres to the NC Reference Profile, the sources said.

Due in December, LCC will be available for Windows NT Server 4.0, OS/2 Warp Server and NetWare servers, sources said.

The company also is working on NC server software, called Network Station Manager, that will eventually enable NC users to run applications from any IBM host, ranging from a PC server to an S/390 mainframe, the sources said.

The first NCs will connect only to an RS/6000 server via an embedded X11 X Window System kernel. By March, Network Station Manager will be ported to AS/400 and PC server platforms, sources said.

Some corporate users said the developments are causing them to rethink NC technology.

"My attitudes have changed a lot," said Ed Dombek, technology specialist at a catalog retailer in Chicago. "You have the power of distributed systems without the cost, plus look at the business applications that are coming out for Java."

Dombek's organization is evaluating NCs or networked-managed thin clients to replace an installed base of some 130 486-based PCs.

IBM officials declined to comment.

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