The problem is trying to find agreement as to what the effect of these variables will be. Rick Agnew, president of Netsight Network Services, a solution provider in Northbrook, Ill., says 2001 is the year of the ASP, citing as reasons a growing ASP market and support for ASPs from vendors such as Citrix and Microsoft, the latter with its .Net initiative. However, the ASP market may not help thin-client hardware sales as much as they help software vendors such as Citrix, Botti says. People might deploy an ASP for a new application, but they are keeping everything else the same. They need to see how the first application works.
Analysts say they also are unclear on the near-term future of thin clients.
Thin-client sales are expected to have stronger growth than PC sales in 2001, but this is still subject to a downturn in IT spending, he says. When budgets are tight, companies need new ways to connect. Thin clients can be used to connect more users on a given budget.