The BBC's John Moylan: "The government wants IT to be accessible to all"

The UK-based company is expanding its worldwide workforce by 4,000 as it anticipates further rapid growth in internet use and e-commerce.

It is also to retrain and redeploy another 4,000 of its exisiting workforce.

The company is to invest £100m in its e-commerce operations which provide the technology for shopping and business deals to be carried out over the internet.

ICL has already worked on over 500 e-commerce systems in Europe, including the web site for Sega's Internet-connected games console the Dreamcast, and the interactive TV systems for cable TV company NTL.

The company expects to see growth in systems and appliances that use the internet over the coming years.

Keith Todd: " This is about economic value creation"

Keith Todd, chief executive of ICL, said the sector was set to expand from PCs into other electronic devices, from mobile phones to TVs - or even kitchen appliances such as fridges.

"This Internet revolution is about banking, shopping and doing business how and when people want it - whether by PC, mobile phone TV, household appliance, in-car system or games console."

ICL is already involved in developing the Screenfridge, which allows users to send and receive e-mail, watch television, pay bills and handle personal banking.

The prototype device is expected to be launched in the year 2000.

The group also announced it had won a contract from Comet-to-Woolworths retail group Kingfisher to build an intranet linking its 51,000 office-based staff.

Last year, the company struck a deal with computer giant Microsoft to develop new "consumer-friendly" software systems for government, education and commerce.

ICL, which reported profits of £41m on a turnover of £3.36bn in 1999, plans to float on the stock market next year.