Is the PC Disappearing?

Last month, I talked about how notebooks and netbooks are re-defining systems

management. This month, I cover another burning question-can the PC completely

disappear or be severely marginalized from the corporate network due to growing

popularity of notebooks and netbooks? Several market trends can cause one to

think that.

One, the growth of PC sales is much lower than those of notebooks and

netbooks. Two, most apps seem to be getting inside the cloud, so that you could

access them from anywhere with any device. Third, catching onto the cloud

computing trend, smartphones are increasingly being used to access enterprise

apps.

All of the above makes it very much possible to shift to a completely mobile

network. Everyone could be given laptops or netbooks instead of PCs depending

upon their level in the organization, along with high-speed data cards to

connect to the Internet and the corporate Intranet over a VPN. They could be

issued smartphones or mobile phones so as to be reached anytime, anywhere.

This work environment provides several benefits. Employees could work from

anywhere and not necessarily have to come to office everyday, therefore saving

administrative costs. Notebooks and netbooks consume lesser power and also have

battery backup, which would reduce the organization's electricity bills and the

cost of deploying heavy UPS systems. Since netbooks/notebooks are portable,

employees could actually sit anywhere in the office, and wouldn't have to remain

fixed on one seat.

While these benefits sound good and quite doable, there are limitations. The

first problem is that of manageability. There will be more cases of system

crashes, software not working, broken or damaged hardware , etc.because

employees could be working from anywhere. Will your IT team be able to service

them? The cost of spares for notebooks and netbooks is also higher, thereby

increaseing your AMC costs.

The second problem is that of security. As these machines would also be

connecting to alien networks, they're likely to bring viruses and other malware

into the office network. You would therefore need to beef up your security

systems. Plus, you would also have to factor in the cost of downtime and

unproductivity when fixing infected systems being fixed.

The third problem is of connectivity. How will you control mis-use of data

cards for instance? Employees will most likely use their data cards for personal

needs as well, which would increase the cost of your Internet connectivity

bills. Plus, you'll have to deal withmobile network availability, bandwidth, and

even security.

This wasn't a problem with PCs because they would connect to your corporate

network, which would have one bandwidth provider and a back-up line. For a

mobile workforce, can you afford to give everyone two connectivity options?

Keeping all these limitations in mind, PCs can't disappear completely from

corporate networks. They will have their own place. I welcome your thoughts on

this topic. Please post them at the PCQuest online forum here.

Anil Chopra, Editor



anilc@cybermedia.co.in