Dzien dobry, Panie i Panowie. Dzis rano rada IBM oglosila szereg waznych komunikatow. Spotkalismy sie tutaj, aby porozmawiac o nich i wyjasnic ich kontekst.

If you can read this, chances are you're either a cryptographer or you're Polish. In either case, you'd recognize it as IBM Chairman Lou Gerstner's opening remarks to the employees of IBM Polska (IBM Poland).

If you've never been to Warsaw, things look different here. Family and business matters have brought me to Eastern Europe and today I'm in Warsaw, hot on the trail of the elusive AS/400.

Since its founding in the early 13th century and through its reconstruction following World War II, Warsaw was never meant for cars. But nonetheless here they are, scuttling about in implausible numbers, spewing leaded gasoline fumes into a sky already choked with the grey soot of coal-burning power plants. In a city of old world pollution, it is fitting that the IBM office is on ulica Nowy Swiat (New World Street).

I reached it by wandering through a living architectural museum. Buildings, hundreds of years old, many lovingly restored, display elements of Roman, medieval and Renaissance architecture. They rub shoulders with boxy post-war cement structures and modern office buildings whose windows reflect ancient cathedral spires. The IBM office is housed in an 18th-century building renovated in office chic. On the sidewalk, paved with large stone blocks, street vendors hawk their wares from colorful booths.

I'm met by Malgorzata Wejtko, a public relations representative, and Romuald Kepa, whose business card reads Project Office Manager, but who, in fact, is an expert on the banking industry. They escort me to the customer center where an S-shaped display unit features several AS/400s and PS/2s and some point-of-sale equipment.

The Poles are a very gracious people who express their hospitality by continually feeding their guests. The more important the guest, the greater the quantity and variety of food. I'm offered coffee and mineral water and try not to look disappointed.

IBM Poland, Ms. Wejtko explains, has existed as an independent, wholly owned subsidiary only since 1991. But surprisingly, she adds, IBM has had a presence in Poland since 1923, selling its products through local firms when political conditions allowed. The 110 employees of the new unit-slated to grow to 130- report to IBM Eastern Europe, headquartered in Vienna.

This resolute band of IBMers, on the Eastern frontier of computing, is doing its bit to help the nation transition to a market economy. In a little over two years, they have installed more than 250 AS/400s. Their success is being well rewarded. In Poland, where spiraling inflation has severely depressed purchasing power, IBM pays roughly four times the average wage. Not surprisingly, IBM was recently voted as the second most desirable employer in the country in a survey of Polish university students.

IBM Poland has established a strong customer base for the AS/400, including manufacturing, banking (both public and private), the stock exchange and distribution. Such ubiquitous U.S. firms as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Amway are also AS/400 customers. In fact, AS/400 sales have only been surpassed by sales of IBM personal computers (komputery osobiste). Additionally, three ES/9000s have been installed to support a bank, a steel mill and the postal service.

Having established a solid marketing base in traditional industries, the current focus, Ms. Wejtko explains, is to establish an IBM presence in retail where most transactions, except in the largest stores, are still calculated by hand on a piece of scratch paper.

As a whole, Eastern Europe is proving to be a small but fertile market for IBM. There are more than 1,000 AS/400 customers in the former communist block; and the IBM employee base that stood at only 70 two years ago has grown tenfold to 700. Poland presently plays host to three IBM offices in Warsaw, Wroclaw and Katowice, with three more slated to open in Poznan, Krakow and Gdansk (the city that spawned the Solidarity movement).

As midrange systems proliferate, so does the business partner community. Warsaw presently has 24 business partners, including one with a familiar name: Computerland. Although many applications are written in English, software providers are beginning to write in languages more suited to the Eastern European market. For example, you can now buy a Polish version of MAPICS. In fact, with the exception of the base operating system, many IBM products for the AS/400 support a Polish user interface. If you've never seen OfficeVision in Polish, it's rather like seeing the results of a computer virus that creates screens of unpronounceable consonant groupings.

In terms of overall computer sales in Poland, IBM comes in a strong third behind Optimus, a Polish company that sells IBM PC clones, and Softronics, a German clone manufacturer. In the near future, IBM plans to enter into an OEM partnership with Optimus to produce PCs. In the midrange market in Poland, IBM is gaining market share from British computer manufacturer ICL, which historically has had strong sales throughout Europe.

My interview ends, and I am escorted back to the lobby where my hosts pose for a picture with a large bouquet of blue roses-the symbol of IBM Poland. I exit to the business-day congestion and wait on the corner for the light to change. (The policia actually ticket jaywalkers here.)

I walk down twisting cobblestone streets, past small stands of beets and potatoes, sausages and fruit. Past medieval castle walls, and majestic churches. Past parks of oak, beech and maple; past opulent palaces and heroic monuments. Past the faces of weary, hopeful people who, like their star-crossed nation, have endured so much.

To be sure, IBM is not the only Western presence here. Along with its best, the West exports its share of rubbish. Adjacent to a 15th-century palace that is a national treasure equivalent to our Liberty Bell hangs an unseemly Pizza Hut sign. Everywhere, Marlboro and Camel ads urge the young to take up smoking. Rosanne lumbers across the nightly television screen, boorish in both languages. McDonalds' golden arches offer an alternative solution to eating.

When I was a child, my mother-who was born in Poland-once commented on America's tenacious pursuit of profit at the expense of good taste and common sense; "America," she said, "has great technology, but it has no culture." I never understood what she meant, until now.

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