Wyse trims pricing for thin clients

New desktop terminals from Wyse aim to cut corporate costs

Wyse Technology last week announced that it had dropped the price of its entry-level thin-client terminal to under £200, making it less expensive than many mobile phone handsets.

The price cut could make thin clients and server-based computing even more attractive to companies wanting to reduce the costs associated with desktop support for end-users.

Thin clients act as the user interface for applications running remotely on a corporate server. This lets staff access Windows productivity tools, while making management easier for IT administrators - compared with managing desktop PCs. But some thin-client terminals previously cost as much as full-blown desktop PCs, discouraging many buyers despite the lower management costs associated with server-based computing.

"This is a desktop cost breakthrough," said Stephen Yeo, marketing director at Wyse. "Apart from its sub-£200 price, a Wyse Winterm does not require expensive antivirus or systems management software."

Citrix MetaFrame

The Winterm 1200LE is a simple terminal for firms needing a centralised solution. It supports Microsoft's RDP protocol for connecting to hosts running Windows Terminal Services; and a Citrix ICA client for connecting to hosts running Citrix MetaFrame.

The strength of such devices is that they require no configuration, unlike Windows-based PCs. Engineers do not have to visit each desk, as the Winterm 1200LE is simple enough to be attached to a network and powered up by end-users.

Wyse's Winterm 1200LE features a built-in 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet adapter and costs £199 +VAT, but the product ships without a monitor.

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