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executive
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Technology:
A Network Computer for Your
Business?
by Peter Meyer for Business and Economic
Review; April 1998.
Network Computers are getting a lot of
attention. Should you consider installing
them?
Look at a Network Computer (NC) as two
different things. First, an NC is a
computer for less than $800 that allows
your people to work as if they had a
$4,000 computer. The NC has no floppy or
CD drive and little memory. It relies on
your network or the Internet for its
programs and information.
Second, NCs are a highly promoted effort
to either reduce the market presence of
Microsoft and Intel or reenforce it.
Will any of this actually do you any good?
Your vendors will offer you an NC solution
this year. This column will look at the
three issues to consider when you think of
switching to Network Computers: money,
people, and software.
What would an NC solution look like if you
installed it? Your users would have
something a little smarter than a terminal
on each desk. The new computers get their
intelligence from servers on a network or
the Internet. They rely on the nets since
they can do very little by themselves.
Money
For most buyers, the first question
is: "Will it save me money?" The answer
is: "Not as much as advertised."
The cost to acquire an NC is low: you
might save as much as $3,500 per machine.
Since the software is on the network
instead of the PC, you save there, too,
because you are freed from upgrading each
machine every time someone releases new
products. With NCs, you only upgrade your
copies on the network servers. And, since
the NC has almost nothing in it, the cost
of maintenance will slowly drop as the
operating system becomes stable.
But - most software designed for network
use requires more training, not less. Not
only will you have to pay out of pocket,
but when you ask an employee to switch to
an NC, you will also lose their
productivity during retraining and
relearning. That opportunity cost could
easily exceed all the other savings
from NCs. When your people are
learning software commands, they are not
taking care of your business: it's your
greatest dollar cost.
The next largest cost may be your
networking. Each NC will be online all the
time it's in use. That means a larger
investment in modems, cable, phone lines,
Ethernet, and network management. The cost
of software is not likely to go down, even
though you just buy copies for the
servers. There are few good office
packages for network use, and their price
is higher than you would like.
People
Even more important than money are
your people: will they stand for the
change? They are used to being productive
in a certain way with certain tools. If
you bring in NCs, will all the folks with
laptops stop using them? Do your people
work from home in the evenings and
weekends?
Until Microsoft and WordPerfect produce NC
products identical to PC software, you can
expect this to be a problem. Some of your
people have tailored their macros, feature
bars, spellers, and other tools. Don't
make your users choose between two
different tool sets. How empowering is
it to make them adapt to a technical
standard they cannot use well from home or
the road?
Software
The place to start thinking about
Network Computers is at the effects they
deliver for your business. The value of
computing in your business isn't cost:
it's getting value from your investment.
If all you wanted was to save money, you
would still be on "286" computers using
the old WordPerfect. After all, the Hubble
telescope is reputed to be using a
286.
When you decide to leave old technology,
it's to get the effect your business
needs. Since that effect comes more from
software than hardware, so should your
decision to go to Network
Computers.
1.
Look at the available and proven
software you need to run on a network
with NCs without disrupting your
users.
2.
Look at the support for that software.
Is the supplier really committed to
NCs, or is he waiting to see if anyone
buys this stuff? Can you get good,
knowledgeable support?
3.
Consider cost issues.
Then
you will know whether it's time to invest
in Network Computers!
Want to Try Before You Buy?
You can install one option today. A
Utah company named Caldera offers an
Internet Web browser that will run on
older PCs. If you set your systems up to
run off your Intranet or the Internet,
this will allow you to use your old,
nearly obsolete computers to build an NC
environment.
WARNING - this is not for the
technologically faint of heart. As of
January, the software was still in beta
test. It requires at least a 486 processor
- it couldn't run on the Hubble. The tools
do not always work together. If you need a
project, download it from http://www.caldera.com/dos/html/webspy.html
Prepare to have limited applications that
run on the net. Word for Windows? No.
WordPerfect for Java? Not yet. This option
will show you just how useful network
software is.
But, first, ask yourself what's in it for
you.
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