Some 10 million Network Computers that offer access to the Internet and other network applications will be sold worldwide in the year 2000, and the US market will account for around half that market, according to a new report from London-based industry watchers Datamonitor. The rapid uptake of enterprise computing, the growth of the Internet and the success of the client-server architecture has meant that existing network terminals do not satisfy all the requirements for huge numbers of different types of network access, states the report The Future of the Network Computer: Technical Possibility or Commercial Reality. Of the 10 million Network Computers to be sold, a little less than two thirds will be sold into the corporate and government sectors, and almost one third will go into the consumer market, with the remainder being sold into educational establishments. The US will account for half the number of units sold as a result of its traditionally quicker understanding and exploitation of new technologies and its advanced local and wide area networking infrastructure, Datamonitor said. Uptake in other regions will remain low. Europe will account for 36% of the sales in 2000, but the uptake will grow rapidly in the middle t o long term. Nevertheless the Network Computer market will remain dwarfed by that of personal computers. Industry estimates suggest the global personal computer market could be worth something like $150bn or so in the year 2000, relegating the Network Computer market to some 2.5% when measured in terms of value, and slightly higher when measured by volume.
