Compaq, the world's largest PC manufacturer, believes that one
third of desktop computers will not be PCs within a couple of
years, writes Lindsay Clark.
Thin clients, Windows terminals and Internet access devices will
become the next wave of desktop devices as companies take advantage
of the Internet and try to simplify their client assets, according
to Werner Koepf, vice president and general manager at Compaq.
"Demand for the local client will be coming down," he says. "We
see this being about 30% of the desktop market. It will not kill
the general-purpose client, but most of our growth will come from
Internet access and handheld products."
Michael Capellas, Compaq CEO, says, "There will be an explosion
in devices, all attached to the Web. We are going to simplify the
PC radically." Capellas promises that future desktop computers will
be easier to manage than today's machines.
Compaq also anticipates businesses using a range of mobile
computing devices, including handheld computers, palm-sized devices
and mobile phones, to access business data via the Internet. The
company did not reveal any new products but says it will accelerate
innovation in this area.
Compaq's handheld devices use Microsoft's Windows CE, but future
products will not be limited to this platform, says Koepf.
- Compaq CEO Michael Capellas has announced that Compaq will ship
a 1GHz version of its 64-bit Alpha processor Firewire during Q2
this year. Capellas says Unix servers based on the processor will
outstrip products produced by IBM, Sun and
Hewlett-Packard.