Click to view catalogue

Introduction

With millions of daily users, smart computing has redefined the economics of desktop computing based on client server architecture. A thin client is a computer that runs from resources stored on a central server instead of a localized hard drive. Thin clients work by connecting remotely to a server-based computing environment where most applications, sensitive data, and memory, are stored. Thin client deployment is more cost effective than deploying regular PCs. Because so much is centralized at the server-side, thin client computing can reduce IT support and licensing costs. Security can be improved through employing thin clients because the thin client itself is restricted by the server. Thin clients cannot run unauthorized software, and data can’t be copied or saved anywhere except for the server. System monitoring and management is easier based on the centralized server location. Thin clients can also be simpler to manage, since upgrades, security policies, and more can be managed in the data centre instead of on the endpoint machines. This leads to less downtime, increasing productivity among IT staff as well as endpoint machine users.

Salient Features

Thin clients have a number of benefits, including -

• Reduced cost
• Increased security
• More efficient manageability
• Scalability

Three ways a thin client can be used –

With Shared terminal services all users at thin client stations share a server-based operating system and applications. Users of a shared services thin client are limited to simple tasks on their machine like creating folders, as well as running IT-approved applications.

In Desktop virtualization or UI processing each desktop lives in a virtual machine, which is partitioned off from other virtual machines in the server. The operating system and applications are not shared resources, but they still physically live on a remote server. These virtualized resources can be accessed from any device that is able to connect to the server.

In Browser-based approach an ordinary device connected to the internet carries out its application functions within a web browser instead of on a remote server. Data processing is done on the thin client machine, but software and data are retrieved from the network.

Application Area

• Schools/Colleges
• Universities
• Higher Education Institutes
• Medical / Engineering Colleges
• Call Centres
• Corporate Offices
• Private Offices
• Government Offices
• Factories
• Hospitals