Thin clients are back in vogue and corporate deployments are rising, thanks in part to security worries with PCs and a growing trend for enterprise applications to live on a server in the back office. UK technology services provider AN4 Group said in February that it expected thin computing projects to grow substantially during 2007, following a 12 percent rise in its revenues from thin computing sales and projects during 2006.
The term “thin client” now covers a range of devices with varying capabilities. The most basic models simply act as a remote screen and keyboard for a user session hosted elsewhere, typically on a server. Other thin-client devices are more flexible and are able to run some applications locally.
For this article, we looked at several of this latter type based on Windows XP Embedded (XPE), a version of Microsoft’s platform designed to boot from Flash memory. Windows XPE is modular, enabling vendors to cut out unwanted components or include required drivers and applications.
These models are closer to locked-down PCs than simple terminals. They are more powerful than traditional thin clients, and this increase in computing power is largely due to the spread of enterprise applications, which are often Java-based and require a measure of local processing power.
Outside of browser-based applications, most terminals use one of two software schemes to connect to server-hosted sessions; Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) or the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) from Citrix.
Many thin clients come with local applications such as Adobe’s Reader for Acrobat PDF files. It is also possible to add applications.
However, a feature of XPE called Enhanced Write Filter (EWF) protects the Flash storage from alteration by redirecting file writes to RAM configured as a drive volume. The filter must be disabled by an administrator to apply updates or configuration changes.
Many thin client vendors have their own management tools and ship their devices with a pre-installed client agent. Wyse has its Rapport suite, for example, while Neoware has ezRemote Manager. HP, however, ships its devices with an Altiris client agent.
This could be an advantage for firms already operating Symantec’s Altiris tools. If not, the proprietary suites are likely to prove more cost-effective as these are often provided for no additional charge.
During testing, we encountered an issue in some devices that caused Internet Explorer to crash when viewing some web sites. Microsoft identified older versions of Adobe’s Flash plug-in as the cause. The three models that were affected by the problem – from HP, Igel Technology and Thinspace – all had Flash version 6. The Neoware and Wyse models, running Flash 7 and 8 respectively, did not appear to be affected.
This is only a minor issue, but companies should ensure an up-to-date Flash version is installed when purchasing.
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