Thin clients aren t for everybody, but they give network administrators maximum control over network activities. As mentioned, organizations wishing to act as their own application service providers can upload or download software versions from their secure servers onto thin clients at will, without the fear of intervention or sabotage by a disgruntled employee. Many models can be equipped with touch screens for public users unfamiliar with keyboards. Multilingual instructions for their use also can be provided. The performance of PCs and NetPCs are determined by such factors as the speed and power of their processors, the amount of RAM, bus types, and the speed of peripherals such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives.
Thin clients have no such limitations.
Because these terminals are windows into the server, they can execute applications and access data at the speed and power of the server. The only performance limitations are the bandwidth capacity of the network and the configuration management of the server or server farm. J.B. Miles of Pahoa, Hawaii, writes about communications and computers. Inc. All rights reserved.