For past few days we were in the process of expanding our technical team, so there was the need of (Technical) infrastructure to support them. In the process i discovered something which was around for a decade now or maybe older than that, i knew it earlier, got to know about it in between also but never realized its greatness !! I am talking about the Thin-client Technology which now-a-days is getting popular with BPOs, KPOs , call centres etc….but still waiting for its real boom.
although up till now the implementation of thin clients is really thin and only big organizations (Read: Who can spend more money) are implementing it but i cannot stop myself from “not calling” it thin-client technology but a Startup Technology. why?? Read on…
So What is Thin-client Technology by the way??
To keep it simple, its basically a Client-server architecture with a difference. Here all the Processing power(Processors), Memory(RAM), Storage(HDD), Peripherals (CD-ROMs ,FDD ,DVD Drive, Printers..etc) are vested with the Central Server and the Client node is a minimal machine with maybe an Obsolete processor, small RAM and no storage, or it can be summed up as a Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse and a Thin-client station. Client drives all its processing, memory and storage requirements from the server.
Talking about the cost cutting features of it….you can now guess all this:
- No primary storage (hard-disks, CDROMs, floppies) required on thin clients. Memory requirement is minimal
- Much more uptime and performance enhancement as no dependence on individual machines
- Can use an obsolete PC with few modifications and Thin client software.
- All user, network, resource and application management can be done on the central server. This not only reduces unnecessary system
administration but also allows for better control over your organizations computing environment and user and access control.
- All applications like MS Office, Internet and e-mail applications, Oracle, SQL, IDEs for different languages and even ERPs and CRMs can be run from the thin client.
- Resources available on the network like CDROMs, FDDs, HDDs, printers, etc can be shared among users
- As all the data is kept on the server, only the server’s hard disks need to be protected and Backed up.
- Zero downtime for clients since all the data is available centrally
- UPS is required only on the server side. Even in the case of a power failure no data corruption or data loss can take place on the thin client node as all computing virtually happens on the serve. (this makes a huge difference in the cost per machine
)
- Hardware and software need to be upgraded only on the server side.
In my opinion with BPOs already adopting it, BFSI sector do have a great requirement for it as security of data and time critical maintainance in concerned.
but here i will again say, this one is equally ideal for startups as it will turn most of your expenditure on sophisticated machines(servers) into a one time investment on which you can further expand with minimum expense(client machines).
(Do lemme know if you need any help in setting up a thin client 
) !!
Tags: Startups, Technology, Innovation by admin
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