The NetPC will have its official coming-out party at this week's PC Expo, leading many IT managers to ask: So what?

With its focus on lowering TCO (total cost of ownership), the NetPC seems like a natural upgrade path for IT shops trying to rein in support costs. But for many sites working on migration strategies, that's just not the case.

The NetPC's limited hardware architecture and a current dearth of centralized management software are keeping these forthcoming systems off the IT radar screen, despite backing from the industry's PC heavyweights.

Even Intel Corp.--which, along with Microsoft Corp., created the NetPC specification--believes the architecture is merely a stepping-stone to the broader Managed PC.

So while IT managers work to address TCO, many refuse to get caught up in the NetPC vs. network computer vs. PC holy wars.

"We're not on an NC or a PC track, we're on the TC or thin-client track," said Dennis Jones, CIO at Federal Express Inc., in Memphis, Tenn. "This starts with the premise of having the thinnest client possible that allows our business functions to be performed."

FedEx isn't convinced that NetPCs or Java-based NCs will lower long-term cost any more than traditional PCs. It's planning to deploy about 50,000 NCs, but those will replace X Window System terminals connected to MVS mainframes.

"We've seen great results in the support and life-cycle cost of terminals, and we believe NCs are a natural evolution of that," Jones said.

Another 50,000 FedEx employees, currently using older X86-based desktops, will move to more powerful--and more centrally managed--PCs. But FedEx has not decided whether the new systems will be traditional desktops or NetPCs.

For many IT managers, the lack of flexibility in the NetPC architecture--which limits expansion slots and requires floppy drives and CD-ROM drives, if installed, to be "scalable" through software--is too much of a trade-off to gain more centralized control.

"Centralized management is the direction everyone is moving--that's why the NC sounds so appealing," said Julie Baiter, vice president of technology planning and administration at McGraw-Hill Inc., in New York. "But we're using some of the techniques that the NC is proposing on Windows-based systems."

Security concerns

McGraw-Hill isn't interested in NetPCs because the company's users need to take work home on floppies or share files with satellite offices. Also, because of security concerns, McGraw-Hill prefers that more people work locally instead of dialing in to the corporate network to access applications and files.

The company has chosen to deploy Windows PCs that run Java applications through a Web browser. Baiter also will implement Wintel-based management tools as they become available.

Even sites planning to pilot test NetPCs, which should begin shipping in the third quarter, are concerned about some key components missing from the first generation of systems.

"We like the NetPC, but there needs to be more management utilities," said Dave Quady, senior systems engineer at Norwest Corp., a financial services company in Minneapolis. "It doesn't answer all the questions today, but it's a good starting point to sink our teeth into."

Norwest likes the NetPC's sealed case design because it eliminates the potential for two problems it has had with traditional PCs: the theft of peripherals and end users loading unsupported software.

If its call center pilot test goes well, Norwest may replace the PCs in more than 800 banking stores with NetPCs. Quady said the company is prepared to shell out the money required to modify its servers to accommodate NetPCs.

"We may keep the OS on the client and apps on the server, which means we'll need to add bandwidth, higher reliability and more disk space to our servers," he said.

The NetPC's creators, Intel and Microsoft, see the platform as a starting point as well, and a relatively short-term one at that.

The pair introduced the NetPC concept eight months ago, partly to quell the momentum of the NC being trumpeted by Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp. In March, Intel finalized the NetPC specification, which calls for a sealed case that prevents users from adding or removing hardware or software.

The ultimate goal for both companies, however, is not the NetPC, but the Managed PC--a traditional Wintel PC that can be remotely managed via various hardware, software and networking initiatives, such as Microsoft's ZAW (Zero Administration for Windows).

"NetPC is the catalyst for the Managed PC; in fact, the Managed PC and NetPC may merge" into a single managed client, said Ron Peck, director of Net client marketing at Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif. "Especially since ZAW will give regular networked PCs the management that IS wants."

Why bother?

If the NetPC is just a stepping-stone, many IT shops are wondering, why should they bother?

"It will help corporations start down the management path," said Rob Waitt, worldwide marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard Co.'s commercial desktop division, in Grenoble, France. HP will debut a NetPC version of its Vectra family at PC Expo this week.

But even with the first NetPCs due to ship in the third quarter, key management capabilities will lag behind. ZAW, the centerpiece of the NetPC, will provide administrators with only a small slice of centralized management.

For example, the forthcoming ZAW kit for Windows NT 4.0, due in the third quarter, and a companion kit for Windows 95, due in the fourth quarter, will enable administrators to "lock down" a PC to limit user interaction with directories and other system-level files.

Users will have to wait until NT 5.0, due in the first half of 1998, for more robust management features, including a superset of Microsoft's Active Directory that mirrors a user's information onto a server, allowing administrators to read a user's configuration and data without visiting the system.

Another feature slated for NT 5.0 is the ability to automatically update a system with new software revisions when a user logs on, something that Microsoft calls the "stateless machine."

The ZAW tool kit "gives administrators more control, but it's only a subset of what we will provide," said Phil Holden, product manager in the Windows division at Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash. "It's nowhere near where we want to go long term, but it gives IS departments a good base from which to start."

Other Intel executives acknowledged the infrastructure gaps but said the company is trying to bring corporations to the starting line. "How can I save you money if you don't come?" said Pat Gelsinger, vice president and general manager of Intel's Desktop Products Group.

Still industry watchers such as Gartner Group Inc.--which, as much as any group, has brought TCO into the IT consciousness--caution against expecting too much from this new round of networked PCs.

"There is no way to know [about cost savings for these new systems] because the infrastructure isn't there yet," said Bob Mack, an analyst at the Stamford, Conn., company.

Until that infrastructure is in place, and until a clearer picture of the NetPC's long-term benefits emerges, many IT managers are steering clear.

"Right now, there are so many unknowns to make NetPCs work," said Randy Dugger, director of IS at Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc., in Menlo Park, Calif. "It's a great idea, but I'm going to wait for someone else to prove it works. Trailblazers sometimes wind up with arrows in their backs."

Source: PC Week - Cover Story