Thin vs. Thick Clients for
VDI: Pro and Cons
Thin vs. Thick Clients for VDI:
Pros and Cons
Organizations have plenty of considerations that
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
need to be made before transitioning to a virtual desktop
infrastructure (VDI). One of these is whether users should
access VDI sessions through dedicated thin client hardware,
or PCs running thin client software. In this e-guide, from
SearchVirtualDesktop.com, learn how to weigh the pros and
cons of thin clients vs. thick clients for VDI.
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Thin Clients vs. Thick
Clients for VDI
By: Brien Posey
When an organization begins transitioning to VDI, several decisions need to
be made. One such decision is whether users should access VDI sessions
through dedicated thin client hardware, or PCs running thin client software.
Since there are compelling arguments on both sides, I wanted to take the
opportunity to present the pros and cons of using thin and thick clients.
Security
One of the primary benefits to using thin client hardware is security. Thin
client devices almost always lack an internal hard drive and removable media
ports, which means thin clients disable users from copying data in the
network to removable media. Likewise, users are also unable to install
unauthorized software. Because thin client machines typically do not have a
hard drive, there is little to no risk of viral infections.
Although a desktop PC can be used as a thin client, the thin client software
typically resides on top of a normal operating system (OS). As such, it would
be susceptible to many of the same types of security risks as it would be if it
were operating as a regular PC.
Initial costs
Initial deployment costs also need to be considered. While it is true that,
typically, thin client hardware has a very low price tag, the cost of deploying
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thin clients may be much higher than that of using PCs -- if you already own
PCs that can be reused. Of course, if you are starting from scratch, using thin
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
client hardware is most likely going to cost a lot less than using PCs. Some
thin client devices sell for as little as $200.
Software licensing costs
Thin client hardware is usually less expensive in terms of software licensing
costs because a desktop PC acting as a thin client runs thin client software
on top of a traditional OS. This means you may be required to license two
separate OSes for each PC: the OS running locally on the PC's hard drive,
and the OS running in the VDI environment. On top of that, there may be
licensing costs associated with the thin client software running on the PCs.
You could also use a stripped down operating system, such as Windows
ThinPC, to turn an old PC into a thin client, which requires Software
Assurance.
Maintenance costs
One of the big selling points behind thin client hardware is that using such
devices reduces maintenance costs. In some ways this is true, but it's
possible that you might spend less with PCs. Let me explain.
Thin client devices are essentially proprietary PCs that have been stripped
bare. As such, there really isn't much maintenance associated with a thin
client device. There are no moving parts, with the possible exception of a fan,
so thin client devices tend to last a long time. However, when a problem does
occur, there might be nothing you can do to fix it -- you may be forced to
simply replace the device. But keep in mind that when a PC has problems,
you can usually replace the failed component for much less than the cost of
replacing a thin client device.
Of course, this is only taking hardware maintenance into account. PCs need
constant maintenance at the software level. For example, the OS must be
patched on a regular basis, and the antivirus software must also be kept up
to date.
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Thin vs. Thick Clients for VDI:
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Power consumption
Another advantage to using thin client devices is that they tend to consume
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
much less power than PCs. Power consumption varies among makes and
models, but some estimates indicate that thin client devices only consume
about one-seventh the power that a PC does.
Flexibility
It's clear that thin client devices tend to have more advantages than PCs in
most situations. It may be valuable to use PCs if you already have them on
hand, or if you need additional flexibility that you just can't get with a thin
client device.
For example, I recently heard of one organization that went through a
corporate buyout. It already had a VDI solution in place, but the company
that acquired the organization used mainframes. Because some users had to
connect to both the VDI environment and the mainframe, it was necessary to
replace the existing thin client hardware with PCs. The PCs network card
was linked to the VDI environment, and a secondary network card was linked
to a mainframe Gateway. Users ran a dual monitor configuration -- one
screen displayed the VDI session while the other screen displayed the
mainframe session. Achieving this type of functionality and this level of
flexibility isn't possible without dedicated thin client hardware.
Face-off: Thin Clients vs. Fat Clients
When it comes to clients, one of our editors says "thin" shouldn't be a fourletter word. After all, he argues, thin clients are cheaper, more secure and fit
perfectly in a browser-based world. Still, the real benefit of fat clients is that
they unleash people's minds to do creative -- and productive -- things with
technology. Which argument do you believe?
Think thin (clients)
By: Jim Connolly, Executive Editor
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In a world where thin is beautiful, I have to wonder why "thin" client is a fourletter word. For years, end users have bared fangs and strung barbed wire
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
around their desks at the thought of surrendering their full-function desktop.
Even IT managers -- those who stand to benefit the most from more secure
PCs and less costly desktops -- hear "thin client'' and their legs turn to Jello.
Don't think of thin client computing as evil. The concept simply has been the
victim of hype and some blown strategies. Microsoft's unloved Network PC
(look in the dictionary under "oops'') did more to advance the cause of fat
clients than Microsoft's Windows ever could. Even vendors that have rolled
out some successful thin-client strategies have done so with a marketing
brush broader than Chicago's shoulders. They have pitched thin clients as
replacements for every PC running every application for every user. It
doesn't work that way. Thin clients are right for some people, and the sea
shift that we have witnessed in new applications has made the thin client
right for many more corporate users.
Look through any organization, and you will see how many employees just
don't need a full-function PC. In the years since thin clients stepped onto the
scene, browser-based e-mail, collaboration tools and enterprise production
applications have been born and grown to age. It wasn't that long ago, a
coworker recently pointed out, that loading Lotus Notes on a PC meant
wrestling with something like 27 diskettes. In the 1990s, legacy production
applications such as inventory, accounting and customer service were
fattened up for the PC side of client/server computing. The thought was that
everything needed to look and feel like Windows.
That left the typical corporation with thousands of desktops with disks full of
Windows utilities and a full load of Microsoft Office. Throw in a couple of inhouse applications, and you have an overpriced, under-used virus catcher
just waiting to die from planned obsolescence. Oh, and what are 67.9% of
those corporate users doing with these beasts? (My boss always says that
you can sell any made-up statistic as long as you add the decimal point!)
They are working with forms as part of an enterprise application, writing basic
documents and e-mailing. Hello! Sounds like little more than the ultimate
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thin-client computing model: a dumb 3270 terminal tied to a big old
mainframe.
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
The one capability that we didn't have on those green screens that is crucial
for corporate users is a revolutionary thing called a browser. Let's see, it's a
lightweight application that grabs a bunch of data off some server and
presents it in display-only format. Wouldn't that be the definition of thin-client
computing?
Rather than fear thin-client computing, IT and the user community need to
embrace it and extend it beyond the office walls. Yes, I will still cling to my
eight-pound notebook with my bloody little fingers if our IT guys try to reclaim
it. But I'll encourage IT everywhere to give their users "thin'' access to
corporate data and applications from anywhere. The emergence of browserbased applications and the change in work habits that go with them are what
thin-client computing is all about. I don't need a notebook packed with Excel
for a quick e-mail check from home or the airport. I don't want to wait and
wait while anti-virus packages and log-on scripts do their thing just because I
want to read a Word document.
The thin client isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it has a role in
the corporate world, and we have to think of it as an opportunity -- not the
devil.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Fat is phat
By: Dave Gabel, Contributing Editor
I know all the arguments: Thin clients cost less. They're easier to manage.
They let you standardize the user interface across the company. Thin clients
are just better.
I'll give you savings, standardization and simplicity. But those alleged
benefits are irrelevant because fat is actually where it's at. And, in the lingo
popular with the younger set today, thin clients definitely aren't phat.
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You could call a fat client a personal computer. Given that definition, take a
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
minute and think about what you could do with a personal computer. I'll wait
here.
Done?
Bet you came up with a lot of possibilities. You can do all sorts of productivity
things. You can save your own schedule. You can build a tickler file in any
number of applications so you keep track of ongoing projects. You can use a
spreadsheet as a word processor. (I don't know why you'd want to do that,
but it works for some people, and it makes them more productive). The point
is that neither you nor I know everything that someone will do with a personal
computer, a.k.a. a fat client. And that is the real benefit of fat clients. They
unleash people's minds to do things no one even knew they could do.
Now think about this: What else can you do with a thin client?
No need for me to wait since I can answer the question for you. You can do
with a thin client only what the admin who set it up thought you should be
able to do with it. In other words, nothing.
The argument for thin clients is all about corporate efficiency. Support costs
are lower. In some cases, communications overhead is greatly reduced,
saving bandwidth to do more stuff. But what stuff? Only that which the IT
department says you can do. If you're denied access to a spreadsheet
because it's decided that you don't need it, then you don't get that
productivity enhancer. And so forth.
Various studies say that thin clients are the best way to handle computing in
the enterprise today. But various studies also say that large corporations are
best at delivering products to consumers. Look what happened to General
Motors when various Japanese manufacturers entered the U.S. auto market
in the '70s.
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"Central control" used to be the catchphrase of those who thought efficiency
is the best way to administer any number of endeavors. Whole countries
Contents
Weighing the Pros and
Cons of Thin Clients vs.
Thick Clients for VDI
Face-off: Thin Clients
vs. Fat Clients
developed systems based on centralized control. Which would you prefer: an
economy based on freedom of action or one based on central control? USSR
or USA?
Back in the late '70s and early '80s, Apple, with its little Apple II computer,
chipped away at the idea of central control in corporate computing. Now that
idea is back, in the form of thin-client computing. But is it better?
Not a chance.
For me, thin ain't in. Fat is where it's at.
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