Business
Six thin clients reviewed
In the first instalment of a two-part review on thin clients, we look at thin-client terminals.
Contents  Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Thin-client computing may not be for everyone but it is most likely suitable in some way, shape, or form to the majority of enterprises out there today.
While Moore's Law is definitely on hiatus for the time being, at least until someone figures out a way to use those hundreds of thousands of wasted clock cycles the average business PC user is throwing away each day, we may as well try and focus all this new found processing power and harness it in a more manageable form, which is where the server comes in.
Who are you calling dumb?
Essentially thin-client terminals are pretty dumb (hence the tag "dumb terminals"), running very light -- "thin" -- operating systems such as Windows CE or embedded Linux that provide nothing more than access to basic terminal settings and preferences and the all important network connectivity and configuration. All the smarts of the machines are delivered to them by the servers via the network. (While on the subject of networking, it cannot be emphasised enough how critical it is to have a reliable, robust, and well-designed network when running a thin-client environment.)
Slightly thicker thin clients
This being said, vendors such as Wyse are now modifying the traditional dumb terminal and empowering its newer generation of terminals with a little bit of intelligence, allowing some applications to be stored and processed by the machines themselves. The majority of terminal vendors now also allow direct Internet browser support from the terminals themselves too -- this is particularly useful if an application is designed to run from within a browser.
Increasingly, vendors are beginning to incorporate expansion capabilities into their thin client terminals allowing PCI or PCMCIA cards to be installed and allowing support for wireless networks. Some vendors are also including authentication technologies, such as smart cards, which not only authenticates the user but allows them to move complete server sessions from one client to another with a simple swipe of the smart card.
This review focuses on the terminal hardware themselves, and we have reviewed products from Ipex, Maxterm, Sun Microsystems, VXL, and Wyse.
Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Physically the device is quite attractive (well as far as beige pieces of computer hardware go), and it certainly has a much smaller footprint than an average desktop chassis. For those concerned with physical security there is provision for a Kensington-type physical security cable lock. There is also more than enough ventilation on all sides of the chassis.
Supplied by Volante, this Ipex machine has more ports than one can poke a stick at: strangely the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports are located on the front of the unit along with two USB ports and a smart card reader. We are assuming most deployments these days would use USB keyboards and mice. The rear of the machine has: RJ45 network port, PCMCIA slot, PCI slot, two more USB ports, 15-pin D-SUB VGA port, parallel port, 9-pin serial port, IEC power cable port, and a microphone and speaker jacks. The chassis physical dimensions are 210 x 230 x 50mm.
The client itself runs Windows CE, and less than a minute from plugging it in and switching it on, we were fully connected and running a Windows terminal session. We also ran up Citrix ICA sessions and an Internet Explorer browser connection. All working very neatly and running within minutes.
Surprisingly, the engineers at Volante decided to potentially throw a spanner in the works and run everything off the rails by offering to ship me a wireless PCMCIA card, which incidentally also needed a complete firmware upgrade.
Before the card arrived I downloaded the file from their server, unzipped it, uploaded it to one of my Linux servers and followed the three or four lines of instructions the engineer's e-mailed us to get the 20MB firmware update onto the box. Naturally expecting the worst I blithely powered ahead just waiting for the box to freeze midway, never to startup again. Despite my worst fears everything went as smoothly as possible and it was back up and running within minutes.
Ah ha! I thought, this is all well and good, just wait until the delivery arrives with the WLAN PCMICA card, then we will see it all fall in a heap. The card arrived, I powered down the thin client, inserted the card, and powered back up. Lo and behold, there was the option in the network to configure the preferences for WLAN. To be perfectly honest it took me longer to setup and configure my test access point than it did to fully re-configure the client and install the PCMCIA card. Everything worked so smoothly. Ok, so I do have quite a wealth of wired and wireless networking experience, but rarely do things go that easily. So it is a big thumbs up for the Volante engineers and the Ipex R&D team.
Overall a very neat unit, with many extra features. Extras such as wireless networking and smart card are excellent.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Maxspeed sent us its MaxTerm 8300b, which was by far the physically largest of the thin-client terminals submitted for this review. Measuring in at 265 x 55 x 310mm, the unit comes with a cradle allowing the operator to mount the unit sideways next to the monitor.
A neat feature of the Maxspeed terminals is the fact that they use standard CF cards to store their terminals operating systems (OS) so it is very easy to switch from one OS to another when testing different options. For this review, Maxspeed sent us two 8300B terminals and CF cards containing Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE.
The plain black chassis has a power button and LED as well as an activity LED on the front.
Ventilation grills are located on the top, bottom and one side of the machine. The rear of the unit has a socket for the 12v power pack, two PS/2 ports for the keyboard and mouse, two USB ports, a RJ45 network port, plus 9-pin serial, 25-pin parallel, and 15-pin VGA ports.
There are also three audio jacks for line in, line out, and microphone. On the rear is a very small cover over the Compact Flash slot which holds the operating system, and there is provision for a PCI card expansion (such as WLAN etc).
Internally there is a mini ATX mainboard with VIA chipset and plenty of room for an additional PCI card with the use of a riser board.
Overall a very neatly designed thin-client terminal with adequate levels of both features and expansion. The use of CF cards for the OSes would make administration and upgrades a breeze. The large size of the chassis, while still smaller than an average desktop, would still take up a fair amount of deskspace when compared to most of the other terminals in this review.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Sun has done an excellent job with its next generation of thin-client terminals. In the January 2004 edition of Technology & Business its Sun Ray 150 won the Editor's Choice award. The 150s are just reaching their end of life now and the 170s seem to be a worthy replacement.
The terminal itself is combined with a good-quality integrated 17in LCD panel, the very aesthetically pleasing design is reminiscent of Apple's recent hardware offerings. Of particular note is the ergonomics of the design, the panel can be easily raised up and down and tilted well past horizontal (upside down too, if you can stand on your head), while still remaining very sturdy. A use which immediately springs to mind is as a candidate for some point-of-sale (POS) clients or as a public access console or conference/seminar/hotel self service reservation/ticketing system.
Last year, we were particularly impressed by the 150's integrated smart card system used for authentication, as well as switching desktop environments from one terminal to another by simply removing the card from one console and plugging it into the other. We are happy to report Sun has kept this feature with the Sun Ray 170, however the card slot has moved from the right-hand side of the LCD panel to the centre of the front bezel.
An amazing array of ports are provided especially considering this is just a thin-client terminal. The right-hand side of the base has two audio jacks (headphones and microphone), two USB ports, 15-pin VGA input, and a 15-pin VGA output. The rear of the base has two 9-pin serial ports, two more USB ports, a Kensington-type security lock port, a RJ45 network port, and a power socket for the power adaptor. The right-hand side of the base has two audio jacks (speakers and line in). As with the Sun Ray 150, these terminals do need to be deployed with a Sun server, but once up and running clients are available for the popular server applications.
Overall Sun has totally redesigned an already impressive platform and we are happy to report that it appears to have even managed to improve on it. If you are thinking of investigating moving towards a thin-client architecture then it is worthwhile adding Sun to the list of vendors on review.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
While a very neat machine, the VXL Itona weighs in at over 2.9kg -- more than one kilogram heavier than the second in line -- due to a very large heat sink covering the CPU and power supply unit. The benefit of this heat sink is that it removes the need to have any fans in the machine, and the less mechanical/moving components one has the longer the machine should operate without needing servicing. The terminal's dimensions are 45 x 50 x 255mm.
Internally there is a relatively new generation VIA chipset mainboard, an IDE port card provides the firmware/OS storage, and it has a single 64MB RAM module and space free for one more. There is a PCI card on the mainboard however due to the space constraints within the chassis this would be impossible to utilise unless the top lid was left off.
The construction and assembly of the unit, (made in India), is excellent -- ll cables are routed neatly and every screw, cable, or device which could become unseated is held in place with a dab of hot glue. Even the earthing of the mainboard to chassis has been taken care of with small copper pads sticking the rear panel of the chassis to the top of the RJ45 and PS/2 risers.
Behind the faceplate there is another heatsink, which further adds to the weight and also shows that the engineers at VXL really went through some thermal testing and research and development to arrive at this chassis design. When the faceplate is clipped on there is a power button with integrated LED and next to this are two recessed USB ports -- users may have difficultly plugging USB devices into these due to the depth of the recession. A short USB extension cable would definitely relieve this problem, however it could make the desk more messy than necessary.
The rear of the unit has both male and female power connectors, two PS/2 ports, 9-pin serial port, 25-pin parallel port, 15-pin VGA port, games port, three audio ports (line in, out and mic), an RJ45 network port, and two more USB ports.
The design of this unit is outstanding, the features are also adequate, however the expansion is behind some of the other similar thin clients in this review.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Wyse is currently going through a product changeover cycle and its new products are looking extremely promising. The S30 -- an update of the 5150 -- runs WinCE and Linux and is powered by an AMD processor.
Most of the Wyse terminals are around the AU$600 mark and when you compare the fact that they have the availability for enterprises to run embedded 32-bit operating system (Linux) over the other most common OS (WinCE), the product and application development including drivers and support for Linux is virtually unrivalled. So while Linux may never take over the desktop PC market in a thin-client environment (particularly using Citrix MetaFrame), users can have a seamless experience with the desktop applications they know and love running on an open, powerful, and scalable platform.
The new S30 chassis measures just 175 x 120 x 40mm and has some neat little feet which slide on and off and allow various mounting options, as well as the addition of port replicators such as parallel etc. The front of the unit has the power button, two USB ports and two audio jacks (mic and headphones). The rear of the unit has a Kensington physical lock-port, power jack, 15-pin VGA connection, 9-pin serial connection, RJ45 network port, and two more USB ports.
Wyse claims the unit draws just 1 Watt of power and looking at the fan-less design this is believable. While the unit may indeed be fan-less there is more than adequate ventilation provided by the sturdy metal grills covering the majority of the top and bottom of the casing.
Not only is the S30 unit very compact, scalable, and powerful it is also very attractive. Definitely worthy of investigation should thin-client procurement or evaluation be on your mind. And if the S30 does not entice then there is probably another terminal in the Wyse range that may well do.
Wyse Tablet
Mobility is widely being touted as bringing on the next big leap in productivity. The Wyse Tablet that we had a look at was very impressive a very small footprint, akin in some ways to the in-car DVD screens now commonly available. Running WinCE, there is a range of add-ons such as VGA output and serial ports to add to the functionality. There are also three USB ports, a Compact Flash port, and PCMCIA ports. With the expansion capabilities it is very easy to add wireless LAN connectivity (the machine we looked at used a CF WLAN card).
And when this unit hits the streets it is likely to be sub AU$1000.
We played around with this device for just under an hour and found it was very versatile and have no real complaints. It is far easier to hold than the usual bulkier "thick" Tablet PCs, and the contrast and resolution of the LCD screen is very good. The "soft" keyboard takes a little getting used to, but quick launch buttons on the side of the screen bezel are also a handy bonus. And let's face it, as with all good thin-client deployments, the user interface will be customised to suit the exact application even to the extent of taking the input method into hand.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
Anyone have storerooms of old PCs laying around doing nothing? Assigned to the back room just because they do not rank in the multiples of gigahertz and gigabytes? Well it's time to dust off the old machines, disconnect the hard disk drives, and plug in the Asterisk PC reviver. The marketing blurb pretty much sums it all up "Turn your old PC into a Citrix terminal server or Linux thin client -- in minutes!"
I dusted off an old Intel Pentium III HP Vectra, installed the IDE card, and turned the machine on. Lo and behold, within a minute or so I was presented with the Asterisk configuration screen. The software is Linux based and the configuration is performed in the embedded Mozilla browser. While it's slightly more difficult to set up than a Windows client terminal it is really not too hard.
Specifications
| Product/Model Name | TK-3370CE / WBT-370CE | Maxter 8300B | Sun Ray 170 |
| Vendor | Ipex / Volante | Maxspeed Australia & NZ | Sun Microsystems |
| Telephone | 03 9242 5000 | 02 6884 5922 | 03 9869 6200 |
| Web site | www.ipex.com.au | www.maxspeed.com.au | www.au.sun.com |
| RRP (inc GST) | AU$671 | AU$999 | AU$1530 |
| Standard warranty | 12 months | 3 years, with immediate replacement | 3 years |
| Form Factor | |||
| Modular terminal | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Panel with integrated terminal | N/A | N/A | Yes |
| Size (HxWxDmm) | 232x51x212 | 330x54x256 | 406.8x376.7x211.4 |
| CPU | 533MHz-standard; 733/800MHz - optional | 800MHz | N/A |
| Memory std/max (MB) | 128MB DDR (up to 512MB) | 256MB SDRAM (up to 512MB) | N/A |
| Operating system | Windows CE 5.0 | Windows XP (Can change with compact flash) | No local operating system |
| Communication Protocols | |||
| Citrix ICA | 8.0 | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft RDP | 5.1 | Yes | Yes |
| Citrix Nfuse | Yes | No | Yes |
| Web Browser | IE 6.0 | IE 6.0 | Yes |
| Java | Scripts only | 1.4 | Yes |
| Other (please specify) | Windows Media Player 9.0; PXE, or FTP for standard image update. | Complete line of terminal emulations including IBM 5250 & 3270, Ericom Powerterm etc. | Tarantella (AIP), NX (Compressed-X). |
| Networking | |||
| 10/100 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10/100/1000 | No | No | No |
| Encrypted VPN support (type) | MPPE/PPTP; L2TP/IPSec | PPTP | No |
| Optional wireless support | PCI, or PCMCIA cards | Yes | No |
| I/0 Ports (and number) | |||
| Serial | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Parallel | 1 | 1 | No |
| PS/2 | 2 | 2 | No |
| USB | 2 (USB 2.0) | 2 | 4 |
| VGA | 1 | 1 | Projector out port, video-in port |
| PCMCIA | 1 (optional) | 1 | No |
| Audio | Speaker and Mic Jacks (CODEC VT1612A) | 1 | 3 |
| Smart card | 1 (optional) | Aladdin eToken pro | Yes |
| Other | DVI video interface via optional PCI card |
| Product/Model Name | Itona TC3541-CE | PC Reviver PCR1000 | S30 |
| Vendor | VXL | Thin Systems | Wyse Technology |
| Telephone | 02 4329 5777 | 02 4329 5777 | 1300 88 9973 |
| Web site | www.vxl.com.au | www.thin.com.au | www.wyse.com.au |
| RRP (inc GST) | AU$549 | AU$199 | AU$650 |
| Standard warranty | 3 years RTB | 1 year RTB | 3 years |
| Form Factor | |||
| Modular terminal | Yes | N/A | Yes |
| Panel with integrated terminal | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Size (HxWxDmm) | 240x267x50 | N/A | 40x180x12 |
| CPU | VIA 800MHz | N/A | AMD Geode GX2 533MHz |
| Memory std/max (MB) | 64MB | N/A | 128/128MB |
| Operating system | Windows CE | Linux | Microsoft CE 5.0 |
| Communication Protocols | |||
| Citrix ICA | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft RDP | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Citrix Nfuse | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Browser | Yes | Mozilla | Yes |
| Java | No | No | No |
| Other (please specify) | Ericom terminal emulation. | N/A | Support for Citrix secure gateway, SSL Cert plugin capability via modular add-ons |
| Networking | |||
| 10/100 | Yes | PC dependent | Yes |
| 10/100/1000 | No | PC dependent | N/A |
| Encrypted VPN support (type) | PPTP | PC dependent | PPTP |
| Optional wireless support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Optional wireless support | |||
| Serial | 1 | PC dependent | 1+ 1 additional with S-Dock |
| Parallel | 1 | PC dependent | 1 optional with S-Dock replicator |
| PS/2 | 2 | PC dependent | 2 optional with S-Dock |
| USB | 4 (1.1 USB) | PC dependent | 4 |
| VGA | Yes | PC dependent | 1 |
| PCMCIA | No | PC dependent | N/A |
| Audio | Yes | PC dependent | Mic and headphone |
| Smart card | Option | PC dependent | N/A |
| Other | N/A | N/A | Additional port replicator available called S-Port adds Serial and LPT ports |
Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
- Size/security: Many thin clients are a fair bit smaller and more portable than their distant relatives and therefore could conceivably "walk" easier. While we can't really envisage thieves having a ready market for "hot" thin clients, opportunistic thieves would probably pick up anything that wasn't screwed down so ensure you can physically secure your thin clients. Some can even be attached to, or integrate with, the monitors.
- Pre/post sale support: If your company is taking its first tentative steps into the thin-client market, ensure that the business you choose to supply/support your move can give you everything you are likely to require, in particular training and support to your engineers while they handle the deployment, and initial management tasks. While they appear straightforward they are in reality like most things IT quite difficult to setup and configure correctly.
- Administration methods: Each brand can have very different management/administration software applications. As these applications are generally remotely based and provide your administrator(s) with their eyes on the thin-client pool, you need to ensure that the vendors applications can handle every task you are likely to need. From client backups to re-imaging both single and multiple clients.
- Employee acceptance/policies: Ensure that if you are migrating from traditional desktop PC's (thick clients) to a thin-client environment that you do your homework to ensure the needs of all employees will be catered for, part of this may be holding regular information sessions for employees to ask questions, learn about the technology, and take notes. From this an employee thin-client policy could be created, ensuring there is no misconceptions or miscommunication as to what could be expected from the changeover.
Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
This medium-sized enterprise is moving premises and wants to replace 80 percent of its existing dated Desktop PC fleet and migrate the users to a thin-client architecture.
Approximate budget: As cost effective as possible.
Requires: 60 thin-client terminals.
Concerns: The clients need the ability to access a variety of different content sources, however as they are moving into a new building all the servers, network cabling and switching/routing infrastructure is new and designed to run their Thin Client applications. The terminals need to fit perfectly with this new facility. Each employee's workspace has also been evaluated and re-designed with space saving in mind, therefore physical desktop space is also at a premium.
Winner: The scenario winner this month goes to the Wyse S30 terminal. Its features and size make it perfect to use in conjunction with a LCD panel display of choice for the client. And it is well priced too.
Final Words
I would like to say a quick thank you to Citrix for providing one of their engineers, Ashley Willis, to supply the Labs with the latest version of its MetaFrame application, and for his assistance in setting it up on one of our servers to enable us to test the devices' ICA connections in a Citrix environment. The devices were also connected to several Microsoft Windows terminal servers as well during the making of this review.
If your desktop SOE is fairly light or you see your enterprise moving more towards browser-based applications then now is the time to consider and evaluate a thin-client environment.
Remember the keys to successful thin-client deployments: a strong glitch-free network, powerful and redundant servers, smooth application transition, and user acceptance -- training, training, and training. It also moves some of the security headaches away from the desktop and back to the server room.
Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||
This new product from Wyse is very impressive and surely has a great future ahead of it, just as its ancestors certainly did.
Of particular note is its small size and good looks which does not compromise on features or functionality. Definite thumbs up to the Wyse engineering design team.
For those looking for an integrated solution (display and terminal) then the Sun Ray 170 with its 17in LCD is awarded an honorable mention. It looks great, has excellent ergonomics, and very impressive features for a thin client.
This article was first published in Technology & Business magazine.
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Contents Introduction Ipex WBT 370CE MaxTerm 8300B Sun Ray 170 VXL Itona Wyse S30 Asterisk PC reviver Specifications What to look out for Sample scenario Editor's choice About RMIT | ||||