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Network Computing, Thin Computing, Thin Client

Network Computing

The term network computing denotes computers working together over a network, as opposed to independently operating computing. It later came to have a specific technical meaning, denoting a graphical form of remote network computing. It retains its more general meaning, however, in commercial IT circles.

As computer networking protocols became part of increasing numbers of commercial systems in the 1980's, the term "network computing" became increasing redundant. By the late 1980's, companies such as Sun Microsystems had marketing campaigns that announced "the network is the computer".

By this time, stand-alone workstations & personal computers had come to dominate the computing landscape. They were inter-connected, but they were increasing decentralized, unlike time-sharing systems. As machines became more commodified, they began to fail more often. The notion emerged of centralized time-sharing, over a very wide area network, as a way of retaining one's "computing identity".

Larry Ellison of Oracle Corporation and Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems began to talk of a "dream of network computing", where thin clients were replaceable, but personal information & computing activity was retained on central computers. The technology for this already existed at the time, in text based computing in the form of remote-login, and in the GUI form of the X11 windowing system, which allowed a workstation to act as a thin client to a remote machine. But Oracle & Sun were targeting corporations that had become very PC dependent.

With the advent of the World Wide Web, any server became a centralized data repository, and any browser could turn a computer into a thin client. Web services, for example Webmail services such as Hotmail, reduced the personal information kept on a client machine, and allowed people more mobility and personal information security.

In a sense, web browsers and web services made computer networking for the masses. But it wasn't a full computing experience, of the sort normally provided by Personal computers, and of the kind which computer networking had promised. In 1999, an AT&T/Olivetti laboratory released screen mirroring software that worked in a web browser, and they dubbed this Virtual network computing (VNC), to distinguish it from commercial network computing requiring special thin client hardware. Within months of VNC's release, thin computing for the masses finally became available as a web service: a small start-up called Workspot provided VNC connection to Linux-based desktops.

ApplicaServer ApplicaServer technology allows multiple remote thin clients to access a single PC running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Each thin client can access the server and all of its software concurrently and independently.

Thin Computing

Thin computing delivers the access your people need, at a much lower cost than traditional methods, all without compromising your security or manageability. It makes it easier for IT to manage systems and improve the reliability and security of information, which dramatically lowers IT costs. Yet thin computing still provides the access to applications and data that people need in order to move the business forward. All while improving on the security, reliability, and availability of PCs. Problems that run up the cost to deploy PCs enterprise-wide.

People often mistake thin computing with thin client computing. Actually, thin computing includes hardware and software that work with both thin clients and PCs, as well as wireless devices and other systems. It gives everybody in your organization secure access to the information and the applications they need, without requiring the desktop systems to store them.

Today, as much as 80 percent of IT's budget is allocated to maintenance, making it very hard for any IT organization to add value to the business. Chief Information Officers have seen their titles evolve to Chief Infrastructure Officer, as they are totally consumed by the need to avoid regulatory problems and keep things running at the same time. Thin computing not only reduces the cost to deliver desktop computing by as much as 40 percent, it also frees IT staff time to focus on more strategic initiatives.

Additionally, the increased availability of high-bandwidth network connections allow thin computing solutions to run at near desktop speeds. Which makes it easier and more acceptable for business professionals to use thin clients in mission-critical applications.

Thin Client

Thin client hardware device which depends primarily on the central server for processing activities.

Applica ThinWorks ThinWorks is a thin clients hardware device that depends primarily on the central server for processing activities. ThinWorks is the only thin client that is capable of running full screen video at high resolutions.

Network Computing, Thin Computing, Thin Client