VDI vs thin client computing

In the previous Industry Insight, I left you with something to think about with regards to management of a virtual desktop environment versus managing desktops through traditional techniques using the likes of group policies, which are inherent in Microsoft Active Directory. I also left a bit of a hanger with regards to using traditional thin client technologies versus a virtual desktop infrastructure. Let me expand on this concept a little.

Some IT managers/owners have not heard about thin client technology.

Scott Orton is co-founder and sales director of Triple4.

Believe it or not, even in this technical age, some IT managers/owners have not heard about thin client technology or know what its true capabilities are. Most IT persons, and even lots of users, have been exposed to remote desktop services, or RDP, simply because it has become a standard for remotely managing the server environment or providing the means to connect from a remote location to efficiently work. Quite often, however, the tie-up between RDP and thin client technologies is not realised, which raises confusion.

So let me give a bit of background on thin client technologies. Thin client technology has been around for some time now; in fact, it dates back to before Microsoft Windows NT3.51 days, which is a very long time! Citrix was the pioneer in this technology, even licensing the technology to Microsoft. So the technology has been around for quite some time, but what is it? Well, let me explain a little.

Thin client technology provides the ability to establish a remote session with a server, where all processing and resources are taken care of by the server operating system. Now that can be any Microsoft server-based operating system that supports remote desktop services or terminal services, or in more recent times, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008R2 being the obvious choices.

The client, which could be anything from a hardware thin client to a Windows machine running a desktop operating system, simply receives screen updates from the server and sends keyboard and mouse strokes to the server (there are a few others steps, but I am trying to be as non-technical as possible). A full desktop experience (similar to VDI) or individual applications can be presented to the user. The applications being used are actually installed on this server operating system. For instance, if Microsoft Office is part of the business tools that are used, it would be installed locally on the server. No business applications are installed on the client. A single server can handle multiple sessions, thus accommodating multiple users, and thin client technology can be branched out to multiple servers for resilience.

Hopefully, with a little bit better understanding of the core workings of how a thin client environment works, I can move on to some key advantages. One of these is software deployment or software roll-out. Assume 100 users are utilising thin client technology and are deployed among four servers. If a new application needs deployment, the application only needs to be installed on those four servers, making it a relatively simple roll-out.

In a traditional desktop environment or a simple VDI environment, the applications would need to be installed on 100 separate desktops or VDI machines, which would take significant time. I mention a simple VDI environment, as more advanced solutions are more easily deployed. They do, however, come at a cost.

Another key advantage of thin client technology is the ability to get the most out of a hardware investment. Over the years, the ability to get more and more users housed on a single server has increased, whereas in a VDI environment, each desktop operating system requires CPU and memory requirements, which adds additional overhead onto the virtual environment. An advantage that favours both VDI and a thin client solution is the ability to work from the office or at a remote location and have a similar working experience, providing Internet bandwidth is sufficient.

To summarise a little, it is possible to give a user a full desktop in a thin client server environment, where the data remains safe, without having to manage hundreds of individual desktops, software deployment is easy and the hardware investment is not prohibitive. Surely then, the question needs to be asked, how is VDI better than traditional thin client technology, which has been tried and tested for years? To be honest, it isn't, it is simply a new spin on the technology and used in a different way. Certain VDI providers such as Citrix still use thin client technology to present a desktop to the user, they just gave it a new name, like 'Shared desktop'.

So, if a unified user experience is needed, or to avoid confusion among users, then maybe VDI with a modern desktop operating system is the way to go. Is it worth the additional cost and management? I am not so sure. What if a company could house desktops in the cloud and present secure individual desktops to different organisations, now wouldn't that be a useful spin on the technology? Guess what? I will cover that in the final Industry Insight of the series.

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