IBM's network computer targets enterprise >BY Chris Bucholtz, West Coast Bureau Chief

IBM is the latest technology heavyweight to buy into the network computer concept, unveiling a client device that will sell for less than $700 and could help boost the amount of traffic traveling over carriers' networks.

Unlike other network computer manufacturers that are targeting the consumer market, IBM will target its core business customers with the new devices, which are described within the company as applications-centric terminals (ACTs).

The devices are "designed specifically for business use and to take advantage of high-speed LANs and token ring architectures," said Jim Gant, vice president of integrated workstations for IBM's server group.

Like the network computers that other manufacturers have introduced this year, IBM's ACT will have limited internal storage capacity and will instead connect to servers through a network for downloading applications and storing information. But unlike the other companies in the field, IBM has an existing market among simple terminal users.

Simple terminals are hooked to internal networks to perform specific software tasks. The network computer would allow users to access the same specific software applications, but because it uses World Wide Web technology, the devices could also be used to browse databases and Web sites, create e-mail and perform other computing tasks that are impossible with simple terminals.