IBM is developing a blade workstation, set to hit the market later this year, that moves the workstation from under a desk into the data center.

IBM will preview the BladeCenter HC 10 blade and the companion TC 10 desktop client Tuesday at IBM Partnerworld, being held in St. Louis. IBM collaborated with partner Devon IT, which makes thin-client terminals, to develop the products.

Individual workstations in offices have become a problem. When they're sitting under a desk, the heat build-up can be significant, particularly in situations where two or more workstations are underfoot. Also, a workstation presents maintenance and security problems to IT staff.

With a blade workstation in the data center, the heat is away from workers, and IT staff can more easily access the machines for maintenance and upgrades.

"You wouldn't work on your automobile in your living room, because you don't have the workers, the tools or the setup," said Tom Bradicich, chief technology officer for IBM's System x and BladeCenter product lines. "Similarly, you don't want to run the workloads on the desktop that are more suited to be back in the data center, where there are the tools, the management, the security, the power and the cooling capability."

Devon IT invested US$8 million in the research and development of the thin client that goes with the IBM blade workstation.

"It helps CIOs in companies to centralize their desktops but get a very, very rich desktop experience," said Joe Makoid, president of Devon IT.

The IBM blade workstation is aimed at power computer users, such as workers in financial services, computer-aided design or graphic design. Some of them have more than one workstation at or under their desks but also need a client that delivers high-end graphics, Bradicich said.

The BladeCenter workstation features a graphics accelerator processor that delivers high-resolution graphics to the monitor, he said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.