Keep I.T. Simple
Leave I.T.
to the Professionals
What is a Thin Client ?
Thin clients are a perfect solution for SMEs and larger companies that need lots of client machines that have to perform on a large network.
In layman's terms a thin client is a small connecting device that allows a mouse, keyboard, monitor and USB devices access to a network in the same manner as a standard PC but with one main difference.
Thin Clients do not have a built in hard drive (and most no CD
Drive) but utilise the Servers hard drive space as you would when
you connect to a network drive. It also utilises the Servers
processing ability therefore the clients can run at virtually Server
speed.
If you have used a Remote Desktop
Connection in Windows its the same principle (and indeed setup).
Some other peoples explanations below will give you as much information as you need and have some interesting articles on the advantages of thin clients (some nice pictures that show scale too)....
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-thin-client.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client
http://privateschool.about.com/cs/technology/a/thinclients.htm
How does it work ?
The diagram below gives an idea of how a thin client fits into a network, but you can even have a small system with only 3 or 4 thin clients and 1 Server, and this could still be financially viable, and faster in most cases than a Server and 3-4 'real' PC's.
