IBM Intends to Offer Service for All Brands of Computers

International Business Machines Corp. said Tuesday that it would offer one-stop service for equipment made by other companies, but analysts said most customers would rather deal directly with their suppliers than go through IBM.

IBM’s offer was part of its biggest announcement since June, 1987, in the field of computer networking products and services, Ellen Hancock, general manager of communications systems, said in an interview.

Among other things, IBM announced easier ways for its computers to connect to equipment made by other companies using international communications standards and better methods for customers to manage their networks by remote control.

Several analysts said they had doubts about how customers would respond to IBM’s offer to serve as the single point of contact when computer users had problems with any of their equipment, whether made by IBM or another company.