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In the dawn of computers and servers, most information was stored on a main

frame which took up entire rooms we would now refer to as datacenters. These main

frames allowed for remote access by terminal clients on the network which merely pulled

data off of the main frame and allowed for the viewing and processing of information to

be done on the mainframe itself. As computers evolved, a new mentality to make silicon

chips smaller while still allowing them to be more powerful made it much more feasible

for each individual user to have their own workstation which could do its own processing

and storage of information. Now with the decline of the economy, new virtualization

technologies, a need for higher security and an ever increasing cost to maintain or buy

new desktops for enterprise environments, more companies are looking to “thin clients”,

or a revival of the mainframe/terminal client model. In the following paragraphs, this

paper will explore the advantages for using a thin client model including security, return

on investment, recent technological advances and an easier ability to administer the

systems.

The term “thin client” was actually established in 1993 by Tim Negris of Oracle

Corporation, but was used far before that in the way of mainframe/terminal client type

networks. Thin clients were originally called “graphical clients” because of the evolution

from the original type of terminal client that was available, which allowed for users to

interact with a server over a text based command line system. As personal computers

came down in cost and the need for more processor intensive and graphics intensive

applications became commonplace, the move to “fat clients” or clients which house a

hard drive and are locally processed, became a more business viable solution. With the

increase of power within servers used in business and the need for security starting to
have a higher impact on business decisions, thin clients are now being analyzed as to how

they might provide a better solution to businesses. [4]

For most businesses, upgrading all computer systems may not be an option,

mainly due to the high cost and cost for upgrading and setting up any software that the

users will need. While imaging and other such technologies have eased the impact that a

new computer system has on a company and the amount of time that it takes for the

system to be setup, there is still the problem of having to administer systems individually

and troubleshoot hardware or software issues in a help desk type environment. By using

thin clients there is the ability for administrators to use improved virtual technologies

such as VMWare’s VM Workstation, Server, and vSphere, and Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

Within a virtualized thin client environment, multiple servers are setup using one

of the previously mentioned programs and allow for terminal clients to connect to them.

The servers host a number of virtual images which allow for users to run the same as they

would an operating system, but rather than have a full computer and storage ability on

their local machine, the processing, storage and operations run on the virtual image on the

server side. This allows for system administrators to troubleshoot and maintain a

significantly smaller number of machines because of the ability to run a single operating

system on each server with multiple virtual operating systems, which alone is a cut down

in the number of machines to maintain. On top of that, when running the virtual

machines to which the clients connect to, a single machine can be created and the

operating system setup to specifications set out by the systems administrators. This

machine can then be cloned to facilitate as many users as needed with very little work.

The cloned virtual machines will obtain new MAC addresses, IP addresses and system
identification numbers automatically, thus leading to a much smaller footprint when it

comes to the amount of time needed to setup multiple machines. The number of

machines and thus number of users will be a direct relationship with the number of

servers and the amount of processing power that a company is willing to delegate to its

employees.

With more and more countries implementing laws that require the security of

information such as health care information and students’ education records, thin client

PC’s look to be a better option than implementing excessively restrictive workstation

usage policies or bans on external hardware, as some companies have now done. While

it is common practice to use a “closed unless otherwise needed” theory when allowing

access to a company’s intranet and ability to access the internet, it is far too common that

users carry flash drives, media players and writable media with them for use while on the

road or in their personal travels. While some companies have banned all external

hardware from company facilities, this can be a burden to enforce and therefore very

loosely enforced at best. Therefore, thin clients look attractive to system administrators

because of the additional layer of security that they provide. Because all processing is

done on the server side and access to the server is limited to authorized personnel only,

there is significantly less ability for users to drag sensitive files onto their personal

storage media, either with intent to use it in a malicious way, or just to transfer between

machines. Because of the ability to add any needed ability to single or multiple virtual

machines at once, there is less need for the transfer of data between machines and there is

little or no ability for a user to take information off of a server without assistance from a

systems administrator. [2]


As a companion to security within a virtualized thin client model, there is also the

idea of working from home, one which is growing by leaps and bounds. Issuing thin

client systems allows for employees to work from home with much more ease, especially

when programs such as VNC Viewer are used and allow for a user to use their own

personal computer to view a virtual machine on the same server as from within an office,

but over a secured, virtual image running on top of the current operating system of the

user. This leads to less need for all users to be present in the office to work and fulfill

needed tasks. It also cuts down on the need to buy individual equipment for every user if

it is known that they will be working from home [7].

Within the thin client model, there is also the argument that there’s a significant

return on investment (ROI). While this may not be an immediately noticeable factor,

statistics show that within a 5 year period, it will become noticeable. For example,

according to [3], the average desktop’s lifespan is approximately 3 years. After these

three years of service, this machine has to be either cascaded down to be used in less

processor intensive applications, or must be retired altogether. With the

mainframe/terminal client model, this lifespan is increased significantly, because of the

processor speed that is allocated between virtual machines. This makes it so while there

is a larger investment in the purchase of a server in the beginning stages of implementing

the thin client model, the cost is mitigated by the purchase of less expensive thin clients,

and also by the longer period of time that the server and thin clients can be used, as

opposed to the three years the average desktop would be able to be used.

While critics may counter that the cut in costs would not be such a noticeable

ROI, there are also what [2] refers to as “soft costs”, or the costs that are associated with
user productivity due to higher security restrictions preventing distractions, and energy

costs because of the less amount of power that is needed for the clients to run, since all

processing is being done on the servers. This may be a harder point to sell to an

administration which is used to having their own computers and that may not be overly

worried with immediate savings on energy costs [7], but security and cost in the long run

may mitigate the worry. While there is no significant savings within the purchase of

machines and initial implementation of the thin client model, the savings over time,

rather than cash in hand at first, may be worth the company to look into [2].

Within the “soft costs” argument, there is also the application to data centers and

offices in that heating and cooling costs, as well as the overall physical footprint can be

reduced by implementing a main frame/terminal client model. With the implementation

of mainframes within the data center, we can cut down on the number of servers that will

actually be needed, because we are requiring servers with a higher processing ability to

run as many thin clients as possible. The more processing power that is implemented

within the mainframe server, the larger number of clients that can be implemented using

it and therefore, the less space that is needed to be taken up by multiple servers [7]. On

the note of having less servers, there is also a reduced number of servers because of the

lack of clients that need a destination which to backup. Event though each server will

still have the need to be backed up and more space which will be needed to complete full

backups, there will be less need for individual backup servers, but rather the ability back

up to raid arrays or tapes, because all data that the users use will already be host on a

server which has a significantly higher robustness and survivability to failure.


Implementation of a main frame/thin client model has become significantly easier

with the new development of virtualized operating systems and cloud computing abilities

within software such as VMWare’s vSphere, and even the simpler version consisting of

VMWare Server and a VNC Client. With VMWare’s vSphere [5], there is the ability to

set up a server which allows clients to connect over a network connection, also known as

cloud computing [1] because there is no local worry for the user other than to maintain

the connection. So long as the connection is constant and reliable, the user is able to

connect to the server using either VMWare workstation, a locally installed program

which allows for the client to interface with the server with VMWare’s proprietary

software, or using a VNC viewer, which allows for the client to connect to the cloud, but

does not allow for a change in the properties of the VMWare virtual image (it does not

allow for setting back of the image, copying, cloning or setting waypoints within the

image.) When connected, this virtual PC looks like a common operating system, but

rather than being local to the computer, it is hosted on a remote server [5]. By

implementing these pieces of software, a client can connect to a local cloud, thus

allowing for the client to rely on the server for processing and administration of the

image.

Within the paper, it has been explained the basic background and arguments for

the implementation of a main frame/thin client model with a business. By implementing

such a model, there is the ability to have a significantly smaller foot print in the areas of

physical space, energy usage and time needed for administration, as well as the ability to

secure the office environment to ensure that essential data is not lost due to PC crashes or

security breaches by employees with removable media. Given these advantages, there is
a significant push within companies to implement the thin client model within their data

center, thus cutting down on the number of servers and backup strategies needed, while

maintaining the ability for each employee to have their own thin client and help to save

costs as well.

Works Cited

[1] "Cloud Computing." Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia. 12 May 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing>.

[2] Haff, Gordon. "Thin clients: Not just ROI | The Pervasive Datacenter - CNET News."

Technology News - CNET News. 18 Oct. 2008. 12 May 2009

<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13556_3-10066094-61.html>.

[3] Pancescu, Alexandru. "Thin Computing vs. Desktop PCs vs. Datacenters - Moving

problems from one place to another... - Softpedia." Latest news - Softpedia. 10

Sept. 2007. 12 May 2009 <http://news.softpedia.com/news/Thin-Computing-vs-

Desktop-PCs-vs-Datacenters-65125.shtml>.

[4] "Thin client." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 12 May 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client>.

[5] "VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Server and Data Center Virtualization."

VMware Cloud Computing with Virtualization, Green IT, Virtual Machine &

Servers. 12 May 2009 <http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/>.

[6] Warren, Steven. "Revival: Thin Client Computing | Microsoft Windows |

TechRepublic.com." TechRepublic Blogs: For IT professionals, by IT


professionals. 17 June 2006. 12 May 2009

<http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=151>.

[7] "When to consider a thin client solution - HP Small and Medium Business." HP

United States - Computers, Laptops, Servers, Printers and more. Hewlett Packard,

USA. 12 May 2009

<http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc_expertise/article/thinclients_consider.html

>.

[8] Wohlleben, Paul. "Thin-Client Computing FedTech Magazine." Federal technology

and best practice magazine. 17 Feb. 2009. 12 May 2009

<http://fedtechmagazine.com/article.asp?item_id=516>.

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