Intel Study: Thin Client Competition Is Wide Open

While no single alternative compute technology is running away from the others, one company has far and away the most diverse presence in each of the emerging models. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Citrix has leading products in all the models examined by Intel, including Terminal Services where it competes with Microsoft for leadership in the space.

Citrix also challenges VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure with its own XenDesktop Server in the Virtual Hosted Desktop model, where Microsoft is becoming a player as well. That's important, because according to Ferron-Jones the different emerging compute models each have their pluses and minuses, and are tailored for different IT environments. Citrix is a leading vendor in four out of the five categories studied by Intel, the exception being Blade PCs, where HP and ClearCube are named as the top OEMs.

All five of the models offer the advantage of centralized data security and management of applications, or entire images in the case of OS Streaming and Virtual Hosted Desktop, Ferron-Jones said, a top reason cited by respondents for their interest in alternative compute models. Total cost of ownership (TCO) relative to "typically managed rich desktops" is another plus, with significant, roughly equal annual TCO savings for Terminal Services, Virtual Hosted Desktop and the streaming models. Blade PCs, with their high acquisition and conversion costs, don't fare so well on TCO.

Going the Blade PC route also requires vendor lock-in for hardware and tools that might diminish its appeal for some, said Ferron-Jones. On the other hand, the model provides the benefit of a single hardware stack for validation.

Other areas of concern for adopters include user customization capabilities, where Terminal Services breaks down in comparison to the newer models, the compute-intensive nature of Virtual Hosted Desktop, and some reported inefficiencies with sequencing OS and application streams to clients in the streaming models.

But the biggest downside to all of the emerging compute models is mobility, or a lack thereof, said Ferron-Jones. Application Streaming is the only alternative that offers anything approaching the mobility many end-users require, and that's limited at best, say some critics.

"The downside is that you're tethered to the network. Sure, you can be wired or wireless, so there's some level of portability, but as soon as the terminal goes off the network, you can't work with the applications," said Ferron-Jones.

Because mobility is "the the other big trend that's rocking the world," he believes rumors of the thick client's death have been greatly exaggerated, at least for the foreseeable future.

"Sure, I think that wireless broadband connectivity is going to grow. And perhaps someday in the future, we'll all be walking around in a universal cloud of broadband coverage. But we're not there today. And we're a long way from there. In the immediate future, there's still a lot of opportunity to build up people's ability to be productive in low bandwidth or out of band," Ferron-Jones said.