Hope for Unruly Networks
by Brad Grimes
Have you seen the IBM commercial in which a company's network is brought to its knees because an employee downloaded a virus from the Internet? Maybe it's happened at your company. Have you ever wracked your brains to figure out why an employee's computer won't work, only to find he installed a cool new screen saver on his hard drive that conflicts with other software?
It happens more often than you think. There's little doubt that linking powerful personal computers over a network can improve newspaper operations, but at what cost? And is there a better way? Advocates of a new breed of computers say there is.
It used to be that networks were simpler: Dumb terminals, with no processing power of their own to speak of, were connected to large mainframes that housed all your programs and data. But with the advent of PCs over 15 years ago, the landscape changed. Suddenly, processing power was dispersed. Programs and data now reside on hundreds, even thousands, of employees' desks, and mainframes have been replaced by less expensive servers that let employees share information.
What does this mean for folks in newspaper operations? Baby-sitting thousands of processing hubs instead of just one.
"It can be difficult to maintain a network," says Elizabeth Sholar, director of publishing systems for Thomson Newspapers. "It requires a certain amount of expertise, and it can be difficult to find people with the right skills. In some areas, we rely on outside vendors to maintain our networks."
It's also no secret that operating a network of computers costs a lot more than buying one. Servicing and upgrading every computer and having employees try to fix computers on their own, or simply wasting time playing games and surfing the Web-all these factors contribute to what's known as the total cost of ownership. Although researchers hotly debate how to calculate TCO, they all agree it's more than the original purchase price.
Network Computers
That explains the recent network-computing movement. In July 1996, a group of companies including database-system developer Oracle Systems Inc., workstation manufacturer Sun Microsystems Inc., and PC heavyweights Apple Computer Inc. and IBM proposed the Network Computer. Designed to resemble the dumb terminals of yesteryear, NCs are cheap, have no hard drives, and run software residing on a central server and written in the Web-based Java programming language.
To date, however, NCs have failed to attract a following, largely because of slow speed and a lack of Java programs. What's more, NCs don't currently run the Windows and Macintosh software that most people use. IBM's $999 Network Station 1000 has had some success because it isn't tied to Java programs; later this year, it will be able to run Windows software. And Apple says it still has plans to launch an NC that will run a version of the MacOS-albeit not nearly as well as the powerful Mac stations that produce today's newspaper layouts.
Network PCs
Despite their lukewarm reception, NCs are already facing stiff competition from a well-known name. Soon after the NC was hatched, software giant Microsoft Corp. launched its own TCO initiative. Along with Intel, the company that makes the processing brains for 85 percent of the world's PCs, Microsoft proposed the Network PC.
Like NCs, NetPCs are essentially "sealed," so end users can't load software. They do, however, have hard drives, memory, and powerful processors just like conventional computers, so they run software faster. They also include special features that make it easy for a network administrator to monitor their performance and upgrade programs from a central location. Suddenly you need fewer network administrators, and they don't have to run from computer to computer. And finally, NetPCs run popular Windows-based software, which means employees don't have to learn new programs.
Companies like Dell, Gateway 2000, and Packard-Bell/NEC recently introduced NetPCs ranging in price from $900 to $1,200. Thus far, they've been better received than NCs, according to Greg Blatnik, vice president of Zona Research in Redwood City, Calif.
"It's basically a known quantity with some limitations," he explains. "Everything is familiar thanks to the Windows interface."
Newspapers, however, are proceeding cautiously. Sholar says Thomson has only recently begun to look at NCs and NetPCs to help alleviate the pressure of supporting its various networks.
"They could be an advantage for some functions, like in business systems or in the newsroom," she says. "They're attractive because they're easier to maintain and the prices are low, but they need to provide the right performance."
At the same time, Sholar has trouble seeing NCs or NetPCs fitting into other areas of Thomson's operations. "With a publishing system, it's a matter of whether you can maintain the same functionality with a NetPC as you can with a workstation," she says.
Some newspapers simply aren't interested. Anthony Walker, manager of systems planning and development for Cox Newspapers, says he might look at a NetPC someday-but not soon. "We're totally client-server and we're having no difficulty maintaining systems," he says. "Sure, you have to spend time managing them, but we don't seem to have a problem."
Managed Computers
However, the same management and administration software "that makes a NetPC a NetPC," Blatnik says, can be "put on a regular computer." Such "managed" computers, as they're called, may end up stealing the NetPC's thunder because they combine the best of both worlds: They can be powerful like today's PCs, and they can reduce total cost of ownership, as NetPCs promise to do.
"It's a trend that's already occurring," says Blatnik.
For now, newspapers are doing their best to tame their networks. Sholar says various groups at Thomson Newspapers have instituted policies outlining what employees can and cannot do to their computers. But when NetPCs offer the same performance as today's computers while lowering the total cost of ownership, she says the decision to change will be "a no-brainer."
Brad Grimes is a senior associate editor for PC World magazine in Boston. E-mail, brad_grimes@pcworld.com.