Thin client computing is not only being extended to low spec PCs
but also PDAs. One example is Hewlett-Packard and Citrix’s
collaboration
This paper describes how HP palmtop PCs can be used to deliver
thin-client functionality when used with the Citrix ICA client and
corresponding Citrix server products like WinFrame and
MetaFrame.
IntroductionToday's enterprises are growing at a rapid rate
and in many different directions. Employees are spread around the
world in branch offices, working from home, hotels, customer
locations and other remote locations. Unfortunately, the diverse
modes of access and the demands from differing computing platforms
present great challenges to Corporate MIS organisations.
Thin-client/server technology is a cost-effective solution to this
problem.Thin-client/server computing is a scheme by which
applications are deployed, managed, supported and executed 100 per
cent on a server. Using this mode, HP Palmtop and Handheld PC users
have access to standard corporate-based applications with little
need for change to the corporate computing infrastructure. This
delivers to the corporate, the benefits of better access,
manageability, performance and security, resulting in the reduction
of total cost of ownership of corporate computing assets.
What
is thin-client/server computing?Thin-client/server computing is
a model by which applications are deployed, managed, supported and
executed 100 per cent on a server. Using this model, different
clients - both remote and local - are given access to standard
corporate-based applications with little need for change to the
corporate computing infrastructure. For the corporate user, this
delivers the benefits of better access, manageability, performance
and security, resulting in the reduction of total cost of ownership
of corporate computing assets.It's important to note that a
thin-client/server architecture and network computing architecture
aren't the same thing. In the network computing architecture, as
defined by Sun, Oracle, Netscape, IBM and Apple, components are
dynamically downloaded from the network into the client for
execution by the client. Thin-client/server computing is a
different approach that enables access to applications without
requiring applications to be downloaded to the client. And the
thin-client/server approach also ensures that users can access 16-
and 32-bit Windows-based and Java applications.
Being mobile with
HP palmtop PCsAs an example, imagine you are in your hotel room
in New York City and you need to access some critical information
in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, located on your
company's server in California. In this case, we assume that your
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is located on your corporate LAN on a
HP Netserver with the Citrix WinFrame or MetaFrame Server
installed. Your MIS department has provided you with a direct
access to your corporate LAN through a dial up connection and you
have the HP provided Citrix ICA client on your HP palmtop PC.After
starting the Citrix ICA client, all you need to do is to connect
your HP Palmtop PC to your corporate network (using a dial up
connection). From this link, you simply launch the Microsoft Excel
application and work on your document as if you were working at
your desktop PC in your office.
Compiled by Paul Phillips(
Hewlett-Packard Company