During my tenure as a Microsoft product manager, members of the Windows Strategy group introduced me to Citrix Systems’ thin-client/server computing model, which consists of the WinFrame server and Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) client software. To me, the greatest appeal of this model was the removal of hardware barriers to the introduction of the most current 32-bit software, which included both development and productivity tools. I immediately realized the impact this computing model would have on total cost of ownership, including application access from any hardware platform, bandwidth-independent performance, and additional levels of data security. I could envision the model having important benefits for small and large corporations, organizations, schools, system administrators, and even the user relationship to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Although WinFrame was already an authorized extension to Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft further validated the thin-client/server model by licensing Citrix’s MultiWin technology for future versions of Windows NT Server, a project referred to by Microsoft as “Hydra.”
Thin-client/server computing enables single-point application management, universal applica-tion access, band-width-independent performance, and additional levels of data security.
The phrase that everyone is working with these days is “total cost of ownership” (TCO), which really boils down to getting the most out of your technology investment with the least amount of unnecessary effort. To that end, a thin-client/server solution might well be the best thing that ever happened to your IS department. With thin-client/server computing, your IS people can deploy applications instantly, without ever needing to “touch” every desktop. No, you’re not dreaming: mission-critical applications can be deployed and updated on one central server. This TCO benefit saves IS organizations literally months in rollout time. Such rapid application deployment is just one of the many management benefits that can revolutionize your IS department and your way of doing business. I’ll cover the management issues that pertain to the thin-client/server model in more detail in the “Addressing the Issues: Management and Scalability, Access, Performance, Security, and Total Cost of Ownership” section later in this chapter.
Another boon to your company as a result of adopting the thin-client/server model will be your ability to give your employees access to the most current software applications without breaking your budget. Currently, corporations that supply their employees with personal computers must upgrade or purchase new hardware before testing and rolling out new, more robust 32-bit software applications. If the Information Systems (IS) department wants to deploy custom internal applications, it needs to create and test client software for each operating system and version thereof that the company uses. The thin-client/server model, using technologies from Citrix Systems built on Microsoft Windows NT Server, allows rapid application deployment regardless of platform. The application executes completely on the server—only mouse clicks and keystrokes are sent to the server for processing, and video display is returned to the client device via an efficient networking protocol and thin-client software on the local device. As I’ve become more familiar with the technology and seen it im-plemented across a variety of business situations, I’ve seen how quickly IS departments become better able to serve their users: the deployment of applications becomes easier to manage; users have greater access to applications and data, which increases their performance; and security is enhanced because all data is maintained on the network.
Applications can be deployed.
In this chapter, you’ll be introduced to the basics of thin-client/server computing. Chapter 2 gets into the relationship of the thin-client/server model to two- and three-tier client/server computing and the download-and-run model used for Java computing. But for now, let’s start with an overview of thin-client/server computing—a model of computing that’s sure to catch on because it allows IS professionals and organizations to maximize their resources and save time while providing quality services to their users.