IBM unveils initiative for application specific PCs

IBM has come up with its so-called Edge of the Network (EoN) initiative, which will aid development of PCs and other devices that are optimised for customers based on their application.

Big Blue claims that, in future, the client device market will not be segmented horizontally or geographically as it is today, but will be divided up according to what use the products are put to.

Ralph Martino, vice president of marketing for IBM's Personal Systems Group, said: "Products will be optimised based on use, and in future that will be the design point as customers demand more customised tools based on what, when, where and how they want to do their work."

He described EoN as both "a framework and an architecture for end user optimised computing" and explained that there were four core concepts behind this.

The first was that devices should be optimised for their application by factors such as how they looked, their shape and what keyboard keys could be used for shortcuts. They should all be ebusiness ready and able to connect to the Internet at any time.

They should be geared towards lifestyle and how the user wants to use them - for example, wearable PCs or mobile devices - and, unlike today's offerings, should be effortless to use.

Martino said the company will introduce connectivity options so that users can hook onto either corporate or personal area networks and ensure that the devices are aware of others on the network.

The machines will be able to recognise whether customers are using them for work or personal reasons, and partition tasks and information accordingly. Security will likewise be emphasised, particularly as ecommerce becomes more prevalent, as will the use of software based on open standards.

Examples of such so-called "Purpose Optimised Devices" (PODs) include information consoles, business process and focused function PCs such as accounting workstations, and portable public access devices that will include technology such as microdrives.

Microdrives are about the size of three credit cards back to back and can hold a database the size of that used by Lotus Notes, for example. Users simply plug it into a device and are supplied with information about the machine's nature and their own private data. When they have finished using the device, they refresh their microdrive to update it and it can then be used by someone else.

IBM intends to introduce the first phase of its initiative in Spring next year with its first EoN desktops and client devices, although they will not be branded EoN.

One example will be the Netfinity 820, an integrated single element PC with a small form factor and LCD panel, making it more expensive than standard machines but more energy efficient.

Phase two will start in the fourth quarter of 2000 with the introduction of various implementation devices, but Big Blue does not expect phase three - the proliferation of devices in personal area networks - for at least three years.

The company will attempt to make its technology prolific by licensing it to device manufacturers, outsourcing the manufacture of certain devices to third parties and branding the technology as its own.