Case Study: The benefits of Thin Clients for your business

FortiTech recently completed an installation of Dell Wyse Thin Clients for one of our not-for-profit clients in the education space. Our client was looking for a standardised, affordable device that could power dual monitors and had a low overall cost to run.

This is where we recommended Thin Clients as the best solution to their needs. As  It is very likely that most of your users have somewhat similar needs in terms of applications and files.  All users would most likely want access to Microsoft Word and Excel, your organizations' line of business application(s), your accounting software if you are in the finance department and so on.  Further, you have files that need to be accessed by multiple individuals, perhaps simultaneously, perhaps from many different physical locations. 

Thin clients run an operating system locally and carry flash memory rather than a hard disk. Since it has no hard drive or local storage, all applications and data are stored on a central server, but advanced thin client technologies help users still experience the same look and feel as on a PC.

Lower Operational Costs:

• The lifespan of a "client" unit is very long, since there are no moving parts inside. The only parts that need constant replacements are the peripherals that are external to the PC. This means that when something breaks at the "client’s" end, it can be as easy as taking a replacement unit to replace the broken one. Even wear and tear is considerably unnoticeable.
• Energy efficiency - A slim unit is said to consume 20W to 40W as opposed to the regular thick PC, where power consumption during operation mode consumes 60W to 110W. In addition, the thin clients need little or no air conditioning at all, which literally means less operating costs. 
• There is a very slim chance of getting malware on the server from a thin client because inputs to the server only come from the keyboard, mouse actions, and screen images. The PCs get their software or programs from the server itself; hence, patches, software updates and virus scanning applications are being implemented only on the server's end. It follows that the servers will be the one to process information and store the information afterwards.
• Only the server's hardware must be maintained at levels acceptable for the software applications and the number of users (more users = more horsepower required for servers). 
• No data can be stored on the local computer. Thus data is better controlled and backed-up.
• If a new application is needed, it must only be installed once - on the server.
• Network traffic is made more predictable / even. Potentially depending on the data being presented to the remote user, network traffic may even be reduced. Thus even with minimal network bandwidth capacity end users may not experience any slowness. 

Environmental Impact

Environmentally wise, the advantages of thin client computing bring positive benefits in the following ways:

• Less heat generated means less carbon impact.
• Less electronic waste outputs, since there are fewer parts to replace.
• Less complexity involved in slim PC manufacture cuts down costs from the point of production at the supplier’s chain. The related costs of transport from manufacturer to distributors and to retailers present less volume due to the PC's compact dimension which is only a fifth of a regular PC. This then equates to lower numbers in transport requirement.