IBM to market website management service

IBM is about to set up a division to market its services on the Internet.

The Network Computer Group, under business director Andrew Creasey, will be based at IBM’s Bedfont Lakes site in Feltham and is due to open this autumn.

The purpose of the group will be to convince corporate clients to develop websites managed by IBM.

The group’s marketing manager, Chris Phillips, says: “We will talk to our clients about the business value of network computers and specifically the Internet.”

This year, IBM made about 4m from its Internet services in the UK, and it expects this to rise by up to 12m next year.

IBM already has an Interactive Media Centre in Winchester, which focuses on the creation of websites and other multimedia technology.

The strategy veers in the opposite direction to Microsoft’s Internet plans, which play more on the do-it-yourself aspect of the technology. Microsoft’s key net products, like Internet Explorer and FrontPage, all concentrate on users setting up connections themselves.