Thin vs Fat Clients

New client compute models have been garnering a lot of press lately. Businesses continue to face steep challenges by way of security, management, regulatory, staffing and cost issues. Almost all major IT shops have either evaluated or are contemplating moving to a thin client compute model to meet their management, security, and TCO needs. I'll present a model and framework to evaluate the various options and recommendations of each usage model for particular scenarios.

The framework to apply in considering future compute models should be broken down into the following 5 categories: Terminal Services, Virtual Hosted Desktops, OS and Application Streaming, Application Streaming, and Rich Clients. Each has its merits and tradeoffs. It is also important to separate analysis of the problem, the compute model, and client device before coming to a conclusion. These are all separate issues and should be discussed in this order. Often, decision makers erroneously tightly link the compute model to the client device.

Most IT shops deploy a mix of some form of the above options depending on the weighted value placed on data security, performance, and mobility for each particular business group. For example, IT may apply a different compute model for their mobile salesforce than for their call center workers.

Next time, a deep dive into how to decide which compute model and client device best addresses your problem...