Thin is in: after several years in the wilderness, "thin" client computer systems are coming back into vogue for both large and small businesses. (Information Technology).

The year of the "thin" client system was supposed to have been back in 1998. At the time, a lot of people were impressed by the concept of server-based applications networked to workstations. There would be no more PCs, no more of the maintenance headaches they bring, and no viruses entering a company system through floppy disks.

But the idea didn't catch on, for a variety of reasons. Some IT departments felt threatened by such a system. Others suggest that thin clients hadn't fully developed at the time. Others point to fears of network failures and the potential loss of data on a mainframe-type system.

The tangible benefits of thin clients are now clearer to many large and small organizations. The reduction in maintenance and upgrade costs, and the control it gives organizations over their applications and data, are the big appeal of the systems. In the past couple of years, Wells Fargo, Tufts University and the Arizona School Facilities Board have adopted thin client systems for parts of their operations. These conversions and others have boosted the "thin" profile and it's now a hot item once again - perhaps this time to stay.

Full access

At each workstation in these systems, there is only a monitor and a small box - the thin client, which is merely a conduit to relay the information located at the server, not a piece of substantial hardware itself- into which an employee can put her network card. Once the card is engaged and a password entered, that person's desktop automatically comes up on screen. That means an employee can work from any space in an office, with full access to her own desktop.

The application makes sense for many companies that are trying to increase the value of their tech investments. Consider that most PCs only have a shelf life of four years or so, and that it takes time away from other business for IT staff to keep those PCs up and running--with new programs to load, as well as day-to-day technical problems to deal with. The costs add up.

A peripheral benefit of thin clients is that they cut the ambient noise in an office considerably. On a recent visit to Infreon, a company that provides a turn key outsourced IT solution for accounting firms using a thin client platform, I was surprised by how silent a room can be when it's hooked into a thin client system. All the noise associated with a PC is left behind at the server.

"We've been involved with thin clients since the early prototype systems came out," says John Dyer, CMA, one of the founding partners at Infreon. "Although the intention behind these systems was good and positive, the units required a fundamental change to customers' applications, and that led to low adoption rates."

But new technology has changed that. Communication between Windows, Unix and mainframe applications is now easier, with connectivity software that sits between users and back-end systems to link different systems together seamlessly. Users throughout an organization can view information from a number of servers without actually being connected directly to them.

Financial Links

The attractiveness of this closed but flexible system has got some larger companies knocking on the doors of the likes of Infreon. But Dyer and business partner Dave Welch see the value of such a system particularly for smaller companies and have made smaller financial shops their niche market. After all, for smaller companies, network issues are an even greater problem. Most of them don't have the wherewithal for a full-time IT department, and often it's the person with the most technical skills that takes care of the network. If, for whatever reason, that person's not available, they've got a serious problem.

A thin client solution, especially when it's outsourced, is all about reducing a company's total cost of ownership while increasing its return on investment. "Our service to this type of client, what we call a ThinDesk solution, is to offer them the desktop equipment (the thin client) and the infrastructure to manage it--a secure server, hardware support, regular software upgrades as they need them and access to the Caseware system they use from wherever they are working," says Dyer. "For a set fee, we basically manage their technology costs--program updates, security, automatic backup, recovery and more."

Larger potential clients are taking longer to adopt such systems, despite the fact that they could benefit from a more secure thin environment. "Their IT departments have resisted it," says Dyer. "It's a major shift for a company to take, and that's more difficult when you're a larger organization."

Weighing in

The initial outlay for such a system has been prohibitive in the past, and this has been a stumbling block for the concept. Although it still means making a complete shift from networked PCs to thin clients, the prices have dropped substantially and are now within reasonable range for a small business.

But such a change does have to be a complete one. "If a company is going to go with a thin client solution, we recommend that they don't go halfway," says Welch. "They should put all of their applications into the system."

Thin clients in the past haven't been recommended for offices with several road warriors that need to run disconnected from the network, but Welch explains that this challenge has now been overcome as well. "Now, an employee can be sitting at the side of the highway using a laptop and still be fully connected to the network," he explains.

It's a big decision to make for any size of company, but the technology is now in place to make this type of system work.

Robert Colman ([e-mail]) is the editor-in-chief of CMA Management magazine.