Hitachi replaces PCs with network terminals

TOKYO - Hitachi, Japan's largest electronics maker, has said it will start using network terminals with no memory function in place of notebook PCs to protect the company from possible data leakage.

Network terminals look like regular personal computers with a display and keyboard. But they have no hard disk drives or floppy disk drives, and all tasks are carried out by interacting with server computers, in which data and software are stored.

Hitachi, itself a PC maker, plans to introduce 2,000 network terminals by March and another 8,000 units in the next business year starting in April, potentially nudging other information and technology-intensive companies to shift to network terminals.

The Tokyo-based company has yet to decide whether it will replace desktop PCs with network terminals, but up to 300,000 PCs at Hitachi and its group companies may be replaced with the terminals within four years, considering a usual PC replacement cycle of about two to three years, a Hitachi spokesman said.

Besides in-house use, Hitachi, with an annual PC production of about 600,000 units, aims to sell its network terminals on a commercial basis, but nothing concrete has been decided, the spokesman said.

Shares in Hitachi were up 0.28 per cent at 712 yen ($9.70) in morning trade, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electric machinery index, which was down 0.16 per cent.

- REUTERS