A Palo Alto, Calif., company is making the thin client environment mobile.
At Citrix Systems Inc.s iForum conference this week in Orlando, Fla., Maxspeed Corp. is relaunching its MaxBook 810, a notebook-style thin client that can connect with back-end servers via a built-in wireless PCMCIA 802.11b or 802.11g card. The 2.9-pound MaxBook offers the same advantages—easier manageability and greater security—as do desktop thin clients, said Alan Flohr, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
The remote manageability comes from Maxspeed integrating its MMS (Maxspeed Management Software) 2.3 in the system; the security comes from applications and data residing on back-end servers rather than on the notebook itself.
“If you lose one of these things at the airport, its no big deal,” Flohr said. “Its just hardware.”
The MaxBook runs Microsoft Corp.s Windows XP Embedded software and is powered by a 1GHz chip from Via Technologies Inc. It is available now starting at $1,598.
The company also is rolling out the MaxTerm 8400—a lighter and more portable version of its 8300 thin client—that features a removable compact flash card that enables it to quickly switch gears between Microsofts CE.Net, Windows XP Embedded and Linux operating systems, Flohr said.
It also comes with integrated MMS 2.3 capabilities, and is powered by an 800MHz Via chip, up to 512MB of SDRAM memory or flash memory, complete video and audio streaming capabilities and multiple ports, including one serial port, one parallel port and three USB ports, and a built-in Ethernet interface.
Maxspeed officials said the 8400 takes up about two-thirds the space of its other thin clients. Available now, pricing starts at $382, officials said.
Maxspeeds announcement comes among several others from thin client competitors at the iForum show, including Neoware Systems Inc., which is releasing an updated version of its ezRemote Manager 3.0, and Wyse Technology Inc., which will enhance its Rapport management software to including PDAs.
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