Midsize CIOs Intrigued By Netbooks

"I'm actively looking at [netbooks]. We don't need all the foo-foo [features of a full notebook] for what we're using it for at all," said Eric Vlam, IT director of Equipment Depot, Waco, Texas.

Equipment Depot, which sells and services forklift, material handling and aerial lift equipment, is looking at netbooks to replace refurbished notebooks for its forklift technicians to run diagnostic applications, Vlam said.

Heavy equipment, once a "nuts and bolts" industry, has gone high-tech. The company's technicians now need to know how to use a PC, and 80 percent of its service is done in the field, Vlam said.

"You can't adjust anything anymore without having a notebook hooked up to it. It's all electronic. We're creating a more mobile workforce and [notebooks and possibly netbooks] help put us in contact with our business systems and streamline our workflow around our service," he said.

ABI Research estimates the number of worldwide netbook shipments will reach 35 million this year, rising to 139 million by 2013.

Tom Amrhein, director of information services at Forrester Construction, said he'd be looking more closely at netbooks now, but the Rockville, Md.-based commercial general contractor did a large systems refresh in 2007 when it deployed Windows Vista. Part of that refresh was more robust PCs.

"Everybody has a new machine. Netbooks might have been interesting for some of our lower usage personnel, but we have no big plans for any machines for another year or two," Amrhein said.

By then, it's likely that netbooks will be more entrenched into the corporate environment as an alternative to more expensive, but more powerful, notebooks.

"Our field guys are either using Outlook or they're using our program management application by Citrix. Neither are big CPU users. We probably have too much CPU for the guys in the field," Amrhein said. "I think the idea [of Netbooks] is cool. The key benefits for us at that price point would be that it could be an operating expense item, not a capital expensive item. For $300 or $400, you can treat it as a disposable asset."