Technology of the Month

Thin clients are computers that rely on servers on the network to run all applications and store your data while providing you essentially the same user experience as the desktop or laptop that you currently use. They are analogous to the terminals that one used to run applications on a mainframe computer prior to the arrival of PCs and Macs in the late ’80s, but today’s thin clients are a lot more sophisticated. Each thin client costs somewhere between $100 and $300 depending on features,, and uses much less electricity than a desktop or a laptop, even when accounting for the servers that support the thin clients. Furthermore, supporting these devices is far simpler than individual PCs and Macs. Despite their considerable advantages, there are a few limitations to thin client technology, and we discuss here both the advantages and the disadvantages to help you decide if a thin client might be right for you.

Background:

Thin clients are ideally suited for people who primarily use the Microsoft Office suite of applications and a Web browser. With the exception of a couple of offices, most of the University business can be conducted through these applications since almost everything we do happens on the web. Thin clients are not suited for graphics heavy applications such as Adobe Photoshop, or for streaming high quality video in real time. Thin clients typically support Windows and Linux operating systems; Mac OS is not supported.
A thin client looks like a tiny computer, complete with mouse, keyboard, and monitor.  Your experience will be very similar to using a desktop – on the monitor you will see a screen asking you to login and after login you will see your windows desktop. You can interact with the desktop just like your own desktop, except all of this is running on a remote server and the data is stored also remotely. In other words, you will be interacting with a “virtual desktop”.
Advantages:

Support: Over the years, the proliferation of desktops and laptops and the availability of thousands of applications freely available on the Internet has made it a challenging task to support thousands of computers in an organization. Every day, software companies issue updates to their software and expect  users to apply them. In some cases, applying these updates will cause disruptions to other software installed on the computer. In a thin client environment, most of the updates and maintenance are done on the server without having to visit individual offices. If there is an issue with your thin client, it can simply be swapped with another device, and you will be up and running within a few minutes.. In comparison, repairing or replacing conventional desktops or laptops is typically much more disruptive and time consuming.

Data Storage: In the desktop/laptop model, users store hundreds of gigabytes of data, both work related and personal. Backing up this data requires significant effort. Laptops introduce the added burden of safeguarding data, should the laptop be lost or stolen. Thin client solutions mitigate these problems because data is stored on the server, making backups simpler and minimizing the risk of data falling into the wrong hands. In addition, this will presumably ensure the separation of personal data (such as digital photographs and music) from work-related data.

Cost: Thin clients are cheaper than conventional desktops or laptops. In addition to the lower acquisition costs, support costs in terms of the time and effort from ITS personnel will be reduced and. power consumption will be far less. Additionally,  data storage and backup  costs will be less because presumably one would only store work related data on the servers.

Green: As mentioned above, this is a much greener solution based on power consumption.  Also, because thin clients have a much longer life cycle relative to conventional computers, they generate less waste. Also, because they are much smaller, recycling is more efficient when they do reach the end of their useful life.

Limitations

Graphics Applications: Thin clients are not suited for high-end computer users who tend to use very specialized applications, specifically those that require intensive graphics. Although thin clients will be able to display typical Web sites and general business applications, they are not suited for producing high-end graphical images. The same is true about viewing high-resolution streaming videos. For most users, however, the graphics capabilities of thin clients are more than adequate.

Stationary: Unlike a laptop, the thin clients are not easily transportable. Laptop users who switch to a thin client will experience a very different style of accessing and working with their files and data. Whereas data stored on a laptop can be retrieved and worked on even when you are not connected to a network, in this model, network connectivity is essential to get access to your data.

Printers and Other Local Devices: Although printing to networked printers will be possible from a thin client, you cannot attach a local printer to typical thin clients. Most thin clients provide one or more USB slots so you can attach any external USB device to it, but the types of devices that are supported vary depending on the application, the operating system, and the thin client hardware.

Our plan is to find the right opportunities to roll this out. Recently, we implemented a thin client lab for CRC, replacing their aging computers. Here is what Mike Sciola, Director of CRC has to say about this.

When ITS first proposed ‘Thin Client’, I wasn’t familiar with the concept.  As they talked me through the scenario, I jumped on the opportunity to be the test site.  Most of the CRC’s resources are Web-based these days.  Over the years, our old computers became slower and slower. They also were not secure, and we were constantly fighting a pileup of downloads, saved document with viruses, and the occasional hacker/jokester who would reset the background wallpaper to, let’s say, a view that didn’t fit with our mission.  Because we were running 9 independent computers, everytime there was a problem or an update, it would take significant staff time to get all 9 back to good working order.

Since switching over to the Thin Client solution, the results have been excellent.  The thin client terminals have been stable and lightning fast.  Security is Fort Knox tight.  Students are able to access their documents through WesFiles.  And best of all, when there is a problem, there is only one actual computer that needs to be worked on.  When the problem is solved, all 9 Thin Clients are set to go.
We have discovered a few challenges as we’ve rolled out all of our on-line resources, but ITS staff have been great in finding fast solutions or advising us as we negotiate patches with our off-campus vendors.

All-in-all, we’re thrilled — “A+”!

If you have any questions about this technology or are interested in exploring a move to this technology, please write to its@wesleyan.edu and we will respond to you.