| More and more companies are moving towards 'thin client' technology as a solution to reduce ever mounting IT costs and here at Jade Integration we aim to make the transition as painless as possible. The majority of larger conglomerates, including NatWest, BP, Jaguar, T-Mobile and Lloyds TSB, either have or are currently investing heavily in thin client technology, however these are companies with their own IT departments and support staff. To help level the playing field, Jade Integration can implement thin client solutions for SMEs as well as provide consultancy to larger organisations. If you currently have between 10 and 10,000 PCs you could be a prime candidate for a 40-50% reduction in IT costs.
What is 'thin client' technology?
To truly appreciate thin client technology we would highly advise coming to our offices for a free demonstration - it's much easier shown in practice than explained! In a 'normal' corporate environment (also known as a 'fat client' environment) you'll have a selection of servers which store data, and a selection of PCs which your users use to access the data. In most cases the PCs are doing most of the 'work'. They run all of the applications like Word, Excel, Access, bespoke applications etc. and, in practice, the servers do very little work. In a thin client environment, your PCs are replaced with inexpensive dumb-terminals and a central server, known as a 'terminal server', does all of the work.
Why is this better than a 'fat client' environment?
The biggest single advantage is cost. Typically a thin client environment costs 40-50% less to implement and manage than a similar fat client environment. Thin client terminals cost as little as £140 each, they consume around 80% less power and, above all, there's no longer a requirement for desk-side support. The terminals have no moving parts and they configure themselves automatically. If a terminal develops a fault (and they're around 200% more reliable than PCs) just unplug it and plug a new one in! All of the complicated stuff, like configuration and application deployment, is done centrally from the terminal server.
Am I not putting all my eggs in one basket?
Nope! You can have as many terminal servers as you like for resilience. The servers (known as a server farm) will automatically load balance between each other to ensure new connections are only established with the quietest server.
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