The theory is that thin clients save money over the long-haul because they require less maintenance and management, have longer useful lives, and can be purchased for about the same or less money than the PC you might have otherwise used. The problem is that it’s very different from the normal practice and not many people can explain exactly how it works. So, in the absence of good information, most people go on like they always have and ignore the possibilities of thin clients.
So I was interested to see and use thin client systems at LITA 2004 in St. Louis. The systems were provided by Veicon, which sponsored the email/internet room there. Veicon seems to be promoting thin clients in place of PCs for public access, web kiosks, self-service kiosks, and even as workstation replacements in areas like education, health care, libraries, and hospitality industries.
Most of their terminal hardware is manufactured by Wyse and their main product appears to be an integrated software solution to make it all work. It looks like a turn-key solution for many of their customers, and the testimonials speak to the simplicity and time-savings.
I’m also somewhat interested in their Vpad wireless Windows CE tablet. But then, I’m interested in wireless and portable gadgets of all types.