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Technology
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Cost of Ownership |
Thin Client |
Thin Computing |
Network Computing |
Server Based |
RDP | Zero
Client
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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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