The two-pronged initiative will centre on the booming market for network servers built around Intel Corp processors, which IBM sells under the brand name Netfinity.

The segment is one chairman Louis Gerstner has targeted for special attention during his annual meeting with Wall Street analysts in May and one where Compaq Computer Corp is currently the market share leader.

Under the two-phase programme, corporate customers will contact IBM directly to order hardware and obtain services. IBM will ask its sales partners to configure and assemble the computers.

IBM expects that the programme, when completed, should close the price and feature gap currently enjoyed by direct marketers such as Dell Computer Corp and Gateway Inc, William McCracken, general manager of sales and services for IBM's Personal Systems Group said in an interview.

IBMwill achieve that goal by shrinking inventories of finished systems, he said. In turn, IBM should be able to trim system prices because delaying system assembly means the company can take advantage of falling component costs, he added.

The first part of the programme, called Netfinity Direct, will be launched over coming months and allow IBM corporate customers who want it direct contact with IBM when buying hardware or arranging configuration or other service for systems, rather than through a business partner or reseller.

The move means IBM will be selling Netfinity more like it does its other server computers and less like its personal computers, a shift the company expects will appeal to certain corporate customers.

While the change in some ways mirrors the methods of direct marketers like Dell and Gateway, the programme aims beyond that, McCracken said.

IBM, which has one of the largest computer services businesses in the world, is hoping to draw on that advantage in its competition with directmarketers.

"This is not to be confused with Dell or Gateway or those kinds of folks," McCracken said.

"This is not just hardware. We're also giving customers the opportunity to decide how they want software, product service and support to come to them."

Rather than build a large services organisation itself, Dell has forged partnerships with companies like Wang Laboratories Inc and Unisys Corp.

IBM is not retreating from its relationship with resellers, which are a key element in its sales strategy, McCracken said.

Instead, the second prong of the programme will focus on completing a shift in how IBM handles sales and manages inventory sold through partners.

IBM plans to expand its practice of having its sales partners configure and assemble computers to order under the new programme, in part by implementing processor and component-level assembly on IBM systems.

IBM said four distributors - Ingram Micro Inc, MicroAge Inc unit Pinacor, Tech Data Corp and Inacom Corp - would play key roles inproviding supply for resellers under the second part of the programme.

When completed, McCracken said, IBM expects to close the price and feature gap currently enjoyed by direct marketers, in part by shrinking inventories of finished systems.

In turn, because delaying system assembly means the company can take advantage of falling component costs, IBM should be able to trim its system prices, he said.

(Reuters)