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IBM last week lifted a few more veils off its plans for developing and
positioning its InterPersonal Computers (IPCs), offering sketchy details about
three different models.
Company officials described an integrated system that has roughly the same
performance as one of IBM's PC 300 Series desktop systems. IBM has shipped
486- and Pentium-based beta units of the IPCs to users for testing.
Because of its design and architecture, the unit will allow some users to
significantly lower the overall cost of ownership by as much as 50 percent,
compared to that of combined typical desktop systems.
"It will have everything you need in a PC [hardware and software] integrated
together and ready to plug right into the 'net," said Ozzie Osborne, general
manager of IBM's commercial desktop systems.