IBM 1998 Annual Report Download - page 28

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We’re watching the end of the PC era.
That’s important. But the PC isn’t going
to dry up and blow away. Its role is
being redefined to serve as a key point
of access to the Net – but not the only
point of access.
3. Get BIG
(and SMALL)
A panoply of new network access appli-
ances is coming to augment the world of
PCs – hand-held computers, Web-enabled
TVs, screenphones. By some projections,
these new devices will account for 40 per-
cent of all devices connected to the Net by
2002. This will bring computing and the
Net to millions of new users quickly. IBM
will build some of these devices, but our
main play will be the technologies – like
chips and disk drives – that power them.
We think things get even more interest-
ing at the other end of the network connec-
tion. As personal computing is redefined,
customers are rediscovering the importance
of enterprise computing to handle their
escalating e-business workload – everything
from industrial-strength software like
transaction systems and databases to highly
reliable, secure, scalable servers.
As a result of these shifts, value is
being redefined in information technology.
It’s changing where customers invest, and
it’s changing what leading technology
companies work on. At IBM, this view of
the future of computing is shaping all our
product development plans, from super-
computers to ThinkPads, as well as our
work in creating the core underlying tech-
nologies that power them.
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