But he cautions that integrators have to be prepared to make a commitment to the technology. These sound like lofty aspirations, but Sun and other vendors of thin client computing may have to be less choosy in picking who sells their wares. Acceptance of JavaStation in the market has been hampered by a lack of both desktop productivity software and programmers who are Java experts. There are also ongoing concerns about the future of the language in the face of extensions from Microsoft to support Windows. But it is taking off.
Thin clients can drive new sales of switches, servers, and wiring.
With so much riding on reliable, high-bandwidth connectivity and a range of new customers drawn in by the promise of low support and maintenance costs, there will be a tremendous demand for infrastructure components, observers predict. Thin clients will bring the network to the forefront and could demand a great deal more capacity at the back end. That could be good news for resellers, because the profit margins for servers and network infrastructure are much higher than those for desktop computers. In fact, with so much money in new hardware sales riding on the acceptance of thin clients, some observers question whether the technology might be a ploy to sell more high-margin equipment. The additional costs up front, he says, are far outweighed by the savings that companies gain in reduced maintenance and support costs.