Now That's Responding To A Customer's Needs!

KABINDA, ZAIRE--In a move IBM offices are hailing as a major step in the
company's ongoing worldwide telecommunications revolution, M'wana Ndeti,
a member of Zaire's Bantu tribe, used an IBM global uplink network modem
yesterday to crush a nut.

Ndeti, who spent 20 minutes trying to open the nut by hand, easily cracked
it open by smashing it repeatedly with the powerful modem.  "I could not
crush the nut by myself," said the 47-year-old Ndeti, who added the savory
nut to a thick, peanut-based soup minutes later. "With IBM's help, I was
able to break it." Ndeti discovered the nut-breaking, 28.8 V.34 modem
yesterday, when IBM was shooting a commercial in his southwestern Zaire
village. During a break in shooting, which shows African villagers eagerly
teleconferencing via computer with Japanese schoolchildren, Ndeti snuck
onto the set and took the modem, which he believed would serve well as a
"smashing" utensil.

   IBM officials were not surprised the longtime computer giant was able to
provide Ndeti with practical solutions to his everyday problems.  "Our
telecommunications systems offer people all over the world global
networking solutions that fit their specific needs," said Herbert Ross,
IBM's director of marketing. "Whether you're a nun cloistered in an Italian
abbey or an Aborigine in Australia's Great Sandy Desert, IBM has the ideas
to get you where you want to go today."

  According to Ndeti, of the modem's many powerful features, most
impressive was its hard plastic casing, which easily sustained several
minutes of vigorous pounding against a large stone. "I put the nut on a
rock, and I hit it with the modem," Ndeti said. "The modem did not break.
It is a good modem."

  Ndeti was so impressed with the modem that he purchased a new,
state-of-the-art IBM workstation, complete with a PowerPC 601
microprocessor, a quad-speed internal CD-ROM drive and three 16-bit
ethernet networking connectors. The tribesman has already made good use of
the computer system, fashioning a gazelle trap out of its wires, a boat
anchor out of the monitor and a crude but effective weapon from its mouse.
"This is a good computer," said Ndeti, carving up a just-captured gazelle
with the computer's flat, sharp internal processing device.  "I am using
every part of it. I will cook this gazelle on the keyboard."  Hours later,
Ndeti capped off his delicious gazelle dinner by smoking the computer's
200-page owner's manual.

   IBM spokespeople praised Ndeti's choice of computers. "We are pleased
that the Bantu people are turning to IBM for their business needs," said
company CEO William Allaire. "From Kansas City to Kinshasa, IBM is bringing
the world closer together. Our cutting-edge technology is truly creating a
global village."

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