Centralizing data on server keys thin client savings

Electronic News, March 16, 1998 by Cynthia Bournellis

San Jose, Calif.--Thin client devices promise to lower the costs of owning computers by providing better network manageability. This is done by storing and managing all data on a server. This centralized approach to computer maintenance is designed to help companies save money, since all upgrades are made on the server.

Moving the thin client model closer to user acceptance might possibly be due to the hustle and bustle over a protocol on its way to becoming an industry standard.

Developed by Citrix Systems, Independent Computing Architecture protocol (ICA) includes components in the areas of client and server software and a network protocol. On the server, ICA separates application logic from the user interface and executes 100 percent of the application on the server. ICA transports keystrokes, mouse clicks and screen updates over standard protocols to the client, consuming less than 20 kilobits-per-second of network bandwidth.

On the client, users see and work only with the application's interface. ICA allows for the deployment of Windows-based applications throughout an enterprise, regardless of available bandwidth, type of client hardware or operating platform.

Last week, Citrix signed up six new ICA licensees. Hewlett-Packard Medical Products group, Philips Electronics, Symbol Technologies, WebSonic, QNX and Bryant Computers announced definitive agreements to license ICA for a range of devices from Windows terminals to set-top boxes to real-time operating systems, handheld computers running Windows CE, point-of-sale terminals to ruggedized mobile computers. These companies join IBM, Sharp Electronics, Acorn Group and Key Tronic Corp., which licensed ICA in January.

Many observers view this as a significant win for the thin client camp, because it solidifies further acceptance of the platform. (See related story, this page.)

Still, the vote is far from final as to which model will win: thin clients or NCs (network computers). "In our opinion, the technologies are in an evolutionary change," said Mike Mathewson, president of StamiNet, Inc., a network systems integrator in Costa Mesa, Calif. "What's holding it back is education. Once MIS managers are educated, the technologies will explode." He said that the number of thin clients and NCs being deployed isn't as high as OEMs boast. He said the significant number of thin clients he sees in the market are PCs attached to a network that runs applications from a Citrix Winframe server. Winframe is thin client server software for Microsoft's forthcoming Hydra Windows Terminal Server operating system.

Meanwhile, Mr. Fulton said that very few customers are asking for Java Stations from Sun Microsystems, because Java is not the write-once, run-anywhere architecture Sun advertises it to be (EN, Jan. 26). "The joke is write once, debug everywhere," said Mr. Mathewson.

According to an in-house survey by ThinWorld, a subsidiary of StamiNet, 92 percent of the 1,000 respondents surveyed said they have either deployed or plan to deploy thin clients in their organizations. Nearly 75 percent of the respondents said they plan to use WinFrame and Hydra technologies.