Wyse officials said the Z90 thin client offers the performance, management and security needed for desktop virtualization environments.
Thin clients for more than a decade have held the promise of easier
management, greater security and reduced costs, but for much of that time, the
reality was much different.
That's
begun to change in recent years, with the rise of virtualization, the cloud and
mobile computing, and the rapid improvement in graphics technology. Officials
with Wyse Technology believe they've got the technology now to extend the thin
client out of its traditional niche of such environments as call centers and
into more traditional areas in verticals like health care, financial services
and retail.
The
company on Jan. 31 introduced the Wyse Z90, its latest thin client that
supports Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard 7 operating system and is
powered by Advanced Micro Device's dual-core G-Series processors. The
technology inside gives the Z90 the performance IT staffs are looking for in
their desktop virtualization environments, according to Jeff McNaught, chief
marketing and strategy officer for Wyse.
The
device, unveiled at Cisco Live London 2011, offers two-way video capabilities
in a complete UC (unified communications) environment, high-definition Flash
technology and two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports,
for peripherals like HD Webcams. It also is powered by an engine that puts all
of the key components-from the CPUs and vector engines to the unified video
decoder for HD decoding tasks-onto a single piece of silicon, a key enhancer to
performance.
"It
delivers the power of a PC, but under 13 watts of power," McNaught said in an
interview with eWEEK.
He
said the 3D graphics performance in the Z90 is 187 percent better than that in
rival Hewlett-Packard's t5740 thin client.
The
combination of Wyse's adoption of new processors and other technologies with
Microsoft's Windows Embedded Standard 7 clears away the performance and
security hurdles that have kept thin clients out of general work environments ,
he said.
"We're
there now," McNaught said.
That
will be important over the next few years, he said. McNaught said that
computing will shift from PCs to other devices, such as tablets and handheld
devices to thin clients in cloud environments.
"The
market is changing dramatically to VDI [virtual desktop infrastructure]," he
said.
Later
this quarter, Wyse is planning to roll out new technology designed to improve
the management of thin clients. "Project Pyramid" is designed to enable thin
clients to self configure themselves in fewer than two minutes. That compares
with the 30 minutes to three hours it takes for a VDI deployment now, he said.
Such
capabilities are key in Windows embedded environments, and is useful to
enterprises and SMBs alike, McNaught said. It also will enable Wyse to better
compete with HP in the Windows embedded space, the one area he said HP still
holds an advantage over Wyse.
"One
area where HP has been greater is in the Windows embedded area," McNaught said.
"This is the last market segment where we're not No. 1."
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