IBM claims victory over first wave of NC takers

"We've been overwhelmed with requests for [NC] pilots," said David McAughtry, general manager for NCs at IBM. IBM currently supports over 20 ventures in areas including banking, insurance, retail and distribution, and plans a seeding program to target an even wider range, he said. However, terms of the programs prevented the participants being named, IBM said.

McAughtry added that software development is key in hastening progress of the NC: "Once you've proven the actual applications on the networks, there's no limit to how quickly you deploy them." The NC "explosion" in corporates replacing terminals will take place towards the second quarter of next year, followed by "NC-appliance" adoption by small businesses and consumers.

"Intel and Microsoft don't have a monopoly on the PC anymore," said Nick Barley, director of marketing for Oracle UK. "That lasted 15 years which is terrible." Barley maintained the PC model is too complicated for most people: " Now's the time for computing for the other 80 per cent of the people."