HP has introduced three new thin client terminals, including its first laptop-style portable unit. The new models have the performance to meet business demands for multimedia messaging, HP said, plus newer uses such as connecting users with virtual desktops.

The HP 6720t mobile thin client is the first such model from HP and is based on the chassis from a standard HP laptop. This means it can use the same peripherals and docking stations as its laptop PC range, the firm said.

Available from Q2 2008, the 6720t ships with 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi as standard, but HP said it will support deployments using 3G mobile broadband data cards.

It will target business areas where mobile access to applications is needed, but data must be kept secure. According to Andrew Gee, sales manager of Remote Client Solutions at HP, one such market is delivery drivers, who can key in data over a wireless Citrix session. Such workers are more likely to accept a laptop than smaller devices with a touch screen, he said.

The more conventional t5730 and t5735 are based on XP Embedded and Linux, respectively, but are otherwise identical with a 1GHz AMD processor, 1GB of Flash storage and up to 1GB Ram. Both are available immediately at £405 and £305, respectively.

"We believe this is the highest performance thin client on the market," said Gee. The need for greater processing power is being driven by business rollout of IP telephony and multimedia messaging to the desktop, such as company-wide video presentations, he added, while customers are increasingly asking for systems capable of dual-screen display output.

Another increasing trend is for thin clients to be deployed as the user console for virtual desktops hosted on servers. HP said its new models supported the most common connection broker tools, but Gee said that the bulk of thin client deployments he sees are still around traditional server-based computing.

"Virtual desktop and web-based apps are starting to come on-stream, but the bread-and-butter of the business is still around Citrix," he said.

Gee claimed that HP is the only enterprise vendor offering a product line covering the whole gamut from thin clients to desktops to servers.

"We're really going to market with a holistic approach that includes PC blades and servers. We can offer a one-stop shop to give the appropriate level of support to customers." HP is now the world's largest thin client vendor by volume, following its acquisition of Neoware last year.