In one of the largest corporate rollouts spelled out to date, IBM Corp. will install 10,000 of its own network computers inside the company during 1997, the head of its NC division said.

Bob Dies, general manger of the IBM NC unit, said while the company is closely guarding the number of its Network Stations on backorder, dealers will learn shortly it is a large one.

The 10,000 NCs to be installed inside IBM, while only an internal rollout, would be significant just to show the computer giant's commitment to the product.

Industry consultants have estimated that personal computers cost corporations between $8,000 and $10,000 each per year to manage, operate and upgrade.

With NCs costing a fraction of that to operate, IBM would have the potential of saving $100 million a year toward its bottom line if, in fact, those numbers bear out.

Dies said that the NC, which is scheduled to ship in volume this month, has not generated mass excitement because the company has chosen not to promote the product heavily during its development.

"We haven't been doing demand generation," Dies said. "But when we show it to people it generates a lot of excitement."

Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, Calif., plans to install 6,000 of its network computers for internal use at that company later this year, Sun executives said.

IBM is slated to begin shipping its Network Station in volume on March 28. The company initially plans to use The IBM PC Co. and AS/400 division sales channels to get the product to market.

While the computer giant has spent more than a year getting the hardware to market, it will stay a low-key course through the initial release-there will be no Windows-95-like festive launch for the NC once it hits the market, IBM executives said.

Dies' division already has begun telling resellers of bonuses and other incentives that IBM will pay as dealers begin selling Network Stations as part of PC and midrange server system packages.

Dies also said his division is in talks with Netscape Communications Corp., Mountain View, on the issue of providing Netscape's browser technology for the Network Station. As of last month, IBM, Armonk, N.Y., had been building the thin clients with Mosaic browser technology.

According to the company, pricing for the Network Stations is planned to remain at the $695-per-desktop level, although IBM still was hammering out potential lease agreements through the IBM Credit Corp., based in White Plains, N.Y. Those agreements would allow the products to be financed for $20 to $25 per month each.

Source: Computer Reseller News