Just a brief update as to some of the changes that I have discovered in WES 2011 CTP2 (as opposed to the original CTP) – this was simply built on a default VM Template based on Windows 7.
Also some useful reference links:
Please review the screenshots below (sorry about the quality, I’ll redo them this week)
- There are additional Templates (including Thin Client) that seem to have most of what people would need to get themselves started
- The Summary page then indicates anything that’s not there – in this case the VMware Drivers were missing – I just ignored this and moved on, once completed it appears to have managed to find it and installed it
- Disk Footprint
- This is a huge improvement on the first CTP – Minimal install used to be 650Mb, and just adding Explorer ONLY saw it jump to 2.6Gb
- Estimated OS footprint was listed as 1946Mb for the Thin Client template
- After installation it appeared (at least in the VM as only 1.57Gb)
- To be fair – there does not appear to be too much installed by default though?
- It looks just like Windows 7 – seriously
- So without even telling it what HW I have just check out the listing from Device Manager – only two items were not sorted!!
- No drivers were installed or referenced by me – I just let the wizard do its thing and here it is with the Internet working
- One curious thing I noted was that there is no RUN command, or Search function in the Start Menu, not that this is a bad thing on an intended Thin Client?
- I was able to check that both FBWF and EWF is installed by default
- As things stand I’d say this is a huge leap forward by Microsoft from the disk space point of view as it now looks quite likely that with some judicious pruning then a relatively useful Image can be created to simply act as the dedicated Client Device for Citrix, VMware VDI instances
- If you’d like to get your own copy of the Image Builder Wizard (IBW) then log on to connect.microsoft.com to download
So after thinking on this some more I had the following thoughts?
- This is essentially Windows 7 “super lite” and appears to be pretty much compatible with everything
- It’s so easy to build a new runtime it no longer needs a developer to create bespoke instances?
- Comes with the choice of enabling either Enhanced Write Filter (EWF) or File Based Write Filter (FBWF) to protect the base image
- A “Thin Client” install is only 1.5G in size – well down from the standard Windows 7 with Office reaching more like 20Gb
- Sure – the terms of the EULA specifically prohibit the *install* of Full MS Office Products
- But that doesn’t preclude any Application Streaming or Virtualization efforts?
- At only USD$90 a runtime version, and only 1.5Gb – will this be *THE* VDI base OS of choice?
- It’s small, light, cheap AND it is non-persistent straight out of the box – it’s certainly worthy of some consideration?
 
 
 
 
 
written by dcaddick
***UPDATE***
If you would like to follow this – check the discussion at XDA Developers
I recently purchased an LG GM730f as a new mobile – specifically because I thought the form factor was quite good, it also used a microUSB as a connector AND it was being advertised as being able to be updated to WM 6.5 in the New Year. So I sent an email to LG Australia in the first week of Jan asking when they might be releasing it and I got a reply back at the start of the week saying it was ready.
So this is my experience and hopefully it will save you from wasting some time? And if someone from LG would like to contact me I’d be glad to get things resolved? 
But it appears that in some cases that the Web Site doesn’t work accurately?
This was sent from LG after I discussed with them that the web page they first sent me to failed to work correctly:
Dear David Caddick,
Thank you for emailing LG Electronics Australia.
We apologise for the problem you have experience with trying to access our website, please try the following website address:
http://au.lgmobile.com/web/web.support.laf?q=201011412401
I hope this has been of some assistance.
So this should bring you to this location at http://au.lgmobile.com/web/web.support.retrieveSoftwareDownload.laf:
So by clicking on Download you should get this tool:
If you have already installed this it will be shown as a desktop Icon like this:
And when up and running it looks like this:
So I started clicking on the “Start Updating for Smartphone (Windows Mobile)” as this seemed to be the most appropriate place to start? J This then pops up with:
 
Click on Next get you a reminder to save your data:
So at this point the phone changes to a black screen with:
!
Emergency Download
And on the computer you see:
So clearly at this point – even though ActiveSync was working fine before this there is some need/requirement for LG’s “process” to use a specific driver to communicate with the Phone when it is placed in “bootloader” mode? So at this point I clicked on OK, and then tried to install the USB Driver
  
So then at this stage you’d think you should be able to go back and check that the Modem Driver is installed:
And then I should now be able to Start the Update?
 
But as you can see by the screenshot above this first checks comms with the mobile – and as a consequence it initiates another install sequence of the USB Modem Driver:
So now we are completely in a loop – I could remove the USB Modem Driver, but then regardless of whether it’s installed or not – the process ALLWAYS tries to install the Driver before starting the update.
I can cancel, but this doesn’t help in trying to get anywhere.
Why can’t LG just do this like all other WM Vendors?
- Download a ROM update
- Plug phone into PC
- Start ActiveSync
- Run ROM update executable
I have been using Windows Mobile devices since 2003 and this would have to be one of the *worst* Update mechanisms I have ever experienced
Anyway, if you keep at it long enough and manage to get it in to the “Bootloader” mode then you can try using “Start Updating” without the Smartphone side of things (I know, but by this stage I was willing to try anything?) and it does appear to get going
It also looks like It does download a 107Mb ROM image and that would be about consistent with my experience?
And then goes ahead and flashed the phone
  
So eventually this gets to 91% or better and the phone starts booting to WM 6.1….. <sigh>
So I have now tried this 6 times or so, from Windows 7 and XP Pro and even though the Web Site clearly indicates that there is a new Update available, and that’s what I was told from LG, it’s clear that they still need to do some work to get this out? I for one am sick and tired of reflashing my Mobile Phone only to find it *STILL* on WM 6.1…………..
If I hear any news I’ll update at the top of this post
written by dcaddick
Now I don’t always figure that the local Newspaper is going to be a good place to pick up this sort of info, but in this case I think Simon from the Sydney Morning Herald has done more than just a decent job – so for what it’s worth I’m reposting but add my 2 cents worth if and when I have something to add 
Top 10 business technology trends for 2010
SIMON SHARWOOD
December 15, 2009
Technology never stops moving, but what are the technologies that CIOs and IT managers really need to consider in 2010?
We sampled opinions among analysts, vendors, users, IT professionals, system integrators and pundits and came up with the following 10 to watch:
1. Cloud computing
Cloud computing now comes in at least three flavours: on-demand applications (software-as-a-service), clouds as a source of computing infrastructure (Amazon web services and its ilk), and as a paradigm for delivering services within an organisation (internal clouds). This means almost every CIO has one type of cloud computing to consider. All three are disruptive forces, with analyst firm Gartner ranking the cloud as the most strategic technology for 2010 because it “does not eliminate the costs of IT solutions, but does re-arrange some and reduce others.”
This will run and run for a wee while yet – but we are still at the peak of the Gartner’s Hype Cycle Report for 2009?
2. Four big Microsoft upgrades
2010 will see the emergence of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Throw in the late 2009 debut of Exchange 2010 and IT managers on long-term licensing deals with Microsoft have three big upgrades to consider. Office 2010 looks like another incremental update but the new SharePoint and Exchange will only ship in 64-bit versions, putting a server upgrade on many users’ roadmaps. And let’s not forget Windows 7, which many CIOs must surely be considering as XP runs out of puff.
Is this starting to emerge as a possible “Perfect Storm” type scenario? XP is going EOL on Support, so we have to upgrade ASAP. Do we want to do Office 2010 while we are at it? We don’t have the budget – but if we leave till later then it adds additional cost – best do it together then! Oh wait, we’re still on Exchange 2003? Look there’s just no way we have budget for that – yes I know that we need to consider 2008 R2 – but there is just no…. what do you mean? Direct Access? it’s like a VPN but comes free with Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7…. really? OK, well let’s just look at this project list for next year and see what we can do? WHAT!! Direct Access needs IPv6? Pass me the Panadol… (I can see plenty of scope for future Dilbert episodes?)
3. Virtualisation
Virtualisation has hogged headlines in recent years but continues to evolve at an impressive pace. In 2010, Gartner says virtualisation will become a standard disaster recovery and availability technique, as the practice of moving virtual machines from one location to another matures. The idea of desktop virtualisation is also powering a new round of thinking about whether thin clients are a cheaper alternative to PCs.
Yes I see Server Virtualization becoming more entrenched, however with Desktop Virtualization – it’s getting there – but there are still some potential roadblocks? see Musings on VDI performance?
4. Biometric authentication
2009 saw National Australia Bank adopt voiceprints as its preferred method of authenticating its customers for phone banking and general customer service inquiries because it improves security and customer service. Many call centres have noted this experience and this technology is ready for wider deployment in 2010.
One can only hope it is a better experience for the Public than the Voice Automated response systems? “Agent”, Auto: I’m sorry I did not understand you, can you please repeat?
5. Next-generation firewalls
Most organisations tend to operate a fleet of security appliances, with firewalls, intrusion protection devices and unified threat management devices all helping to build a layered defence. Firewalls, however, have grown up and can now take over some of the functions of other security appliances. CIOs wishing to consolidate their security infrastructure may welcome this evolution.
Not my area at all
6. Employee-owned IT
Traditionally, IT departments decide what kind of computers and software employees use and they take responsibility for all maintenance chores. Younger workers, however, have grown up choosing their own computers and applications and want to keep their personalised computing styles. Enter employee-owned IT, which sees workers bringing their own computers to work so that IT can lock them down with virtualisation or multiple operating systems that deliver security. IT departments save as maintenance devolves to computer vendors, while employees swear they are more productive using a machine of their choice.
So this is effectively an extension of the Desktop Virtualization concept where it is possible already today to run a Type 1 Client Hypervisor on a Laptop or Desktop and host one or more VM’s running on it with very little performance overhead – this means that it will quite likely be possible (with sufficient HW resources) to run Windows 7, along with a dedicated VM acting as the FireWall keeping it all secure provided by IT, and XP for your Games. All of this will be managed by Policies driven by IT and the various components will be updated on the fly by being provided by Delta changes that are smart enough to recognize what bandwidth you have available and know if they can proceed or wait until you’re connected via LAN? Virtual Computer and Neocleus are doing this now, Citrix and VMware have products in development.
7. Loyalty schemes
Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan’s Industry Director Andrew Milroy believes loyalty schemes will go mainstream in 2010. Citing their mainstream acceptance in retail and aviation, Milroy notes their absence from telecommunications and other industries and expects newly mature loyalty software will be something many CIOs are asked to consider in 2010.
I’m not too big a fan of these unless there are substantial benefits to the Customer – there is way too much detail out there on me already – I don’t want to add to another CRM database all my personal details…
8. Solid state disks
Storage may not be fashionable but it remains a colossal industry, and right now that industry is shifting towards solid state disks – a technology that sees storage assigned to flash memory instead of magnetic spinning disks. Solid state disks are smaller, faster, cooler and use less power than conventional disks, which means they can speed up applications without the need for new servers while keeping electricity costs low – an irresistible combination. While we are on storage, note the 2010 release of LTO-5, a new standard tape format packing 3.6 terbaytes of data onto each tape.
For an example of how SSD’s make a difference see these comments –
Runcore SSD’s – promises to boost computer performance vs. the traditional 1.8" HDD by more than 400% with read/write speeds up to 75/40MB/sec. Experience with 128GB 1.8" ZIF in HP 2710p – Read/write performance for 4K random files has improved over 500% (even under Bitlocker). it just became the fastest computer I ever used… Word and Excel launch in one or two seconds (compared to 30-60 before)…
9. Smart grids
Smart grids are an emergent technology that imagines sensors embedded in devices to monitor electricity consumption so that they can “decide” to operate when power is cheaper. This in turn allows power companies to predict demand more precisely, reducing waste. The idea is a favourite of green IT boosters and is also seen as a likely source of traffic for the National Broadband Network.
This may take 3 – 5 years to be common place, but it will be coming as soon as possible, this is one way we can all be green. What it also means is that we will be charged for our power consumption much more accurately, which in itself is no bad thing, and as a consequence over time we will develop better habits with regarding conserving power. The real kicker is that in the process we will be able to “get away” with not having to build that new powerstation for a further 5 – 7 years, etc.. which will be further savings to the environment.
I see this as very similar to the “User Pays” model in Car Insurance today – you can now pay for your Car Insurance based on a max number of Klick’s a year, the less mileage you do the less you pay. DO NOT be surprised if/when this also applies to Car Registration? Here in NSW we pay an extortionate amount of money in Tolls already – and DON’T even get me started on the NSW Govt?
10. Hybrid servers
The big IT transaction of 2009 was Oracle’s acquisition of Sun. The former has been experimenting with all-in-ones that pack a server, storage and other goodies needed to run business applications into a single box, and is said to be keen on extending Sun’s work in the same space. HP is going down the same path, working to make its storage arrays more similar to its servers to make them cheaper to manufacture. If this trend continues, data centre hardware will start to look similar.
So this is not normally my area of expertise – so I can only guess this might be referring to the LH Storage side of things? As far as I am aware there is already a 30 day trial LH Virtual SAN Appliance available for download at VMware Appliance web site – I’m sure we’ll see more of this in the future?
Top 10 business technology trends for 2010
written by dcaddick
The best piece I have read from the IT Industry in the last two weeks or so is:
Desktop virtualization is one of the hottest topics of interest and a major initiative of many companies. Touted benefits include lower operating costs, simpler management and desktop mobility. Below we’ll explore what the barriers to wide-scale adoption of desktop virtualization solutions are and some approaches to deal with them. It’s not a fit for everyone in a company but it can be for many.
Challenge #1: Assuming desktop virtualization makes sense because thin clients are cheap - Many people assume that virtualizing desktops is going to be magnitudes cheaper because thin clients can be found for approximately $300-400 whereas a PC can cost $500-$1200.
Tip: Client costs are only part of the picture. Desktop virtualization can reduce capital expenditures but do not expect that to be the case in the first year. Building the infrastructure is expensive (storage, servers, licenses, etc.) and may be the same in the first year. Think about using existing PCs as clients instead of replacing them with thin clients. Thin clients are cheaper than PCs but the reduction in hardware costs may not be seen for a couple of years due to the infrastructure needing to be built. More importantly, operational expenses will be seen immediately and that is where the true cost savings can be found.
……… more at source
I have also collated below some of the details I have discovered around the latest news on PCoIP and HDX-3D
From Brian Madden:
For me the most crucial part of this post is explaining this:
How HDX 3D works
On the remote host side, Citrix is releasing a custom VDA for the environments where you want to use HDX 3D. (The VDA, or “Virtual Desktop Agent,” is the software agent you install on your remote workstation OS that lets it participate in a XenDesktop farm and gives the ICA hosting capability to a desktop OS.) Having a separate VDA shouldn’t be a problem for anyone since this is a physical workstation host solution anyway, so it’s not like you’re sharing the same disk image with remote desktop VMs.
On the client side, HDX 3D is just another plug-in for the Citrix Receiver. (That’s newspeak for “it’s just another virtual channel for the regular ICA client.”)
HDX 3D lets you configure the image quality, so you can balance the bandwidth-to-user experience. (PC-over-IP lets you do this too.)
From a technical standpoint, the HDX 3D engine replaces the existing ICA progressive display capability. It lets the OpenGL or DirectX stuff render on the host, and then it scrapes them and makes what’s essentially like an M-JPEG movie which is streamed down and played on the client. In many ways this is similar to the way HP RGS and Teradici PC-over-IP.
………. more at source
What this tells me is that this is right in the zone for HP’s Blade Workstation’s as they have Nvidia based GPU, and that the BladePC’s would not be in at all as they are AMD/ATI based hardware. It’s also interesting to note some more details coming out via this Citrix Community Blog HDX 3D – What Happened to Projects Pictor, Apollo and Prism? and the subsequent comments from Sridhar Mullapudi, Sr. Product Manager:
Though the first release is available for only XD customers, future releases will enable XA customers to get HDX 3D using VM Hosted Apps technology. And with GPU virtualization and related technologies in the future, we will enable support of HDX 3D on virtual machines as well.
And for VMware Brian Madden had this commentary…
The irony of this is that I really, really want VMware to be successful with desktops. Competition from VMware has caused Citrix to put more innovation into their desktop delivery products in 18 months than they have in the past ten years combined. If VMware rolls over on the desktop, I hope that the Symantec or Quest can step up to apply pressure to Citrix or else we’re going to have another decade of innovation ice age.
But back to the main topic: VMware’s lack of desktop vision.
At last year’s VMworld, we got all these great indications of what VMware was capable of in the desktop space. (Here’s my article from then where I could hardly contain my excitement about six desktop announcements.) And how did VMware follow up at this year’s VMworld?
So those were two great things. (Tactical, but still great.) Unfortunately that’s kind of where the good news from VMworld stopped:
- VMware demoed their client hypervisor known as CVP. (yay!) But we learned that it won’t be available until 2H 2010! Last year they said their client hypervisor was going to ship by the end of 2009, and now it’s another 8+ months away!?!
- The View futures session was just about View 4. VMware still hasn’t announced a release date, although the rumor is it’s still coming at some point this year. View 4 will have PC-over-IP, but little else new. (Oh, it will have vSphere 4 support.)
………… more at source
from Citrix Community blog:
- Desktop Virtualization is not Server Virtualization (This title pretty much tells it like it is)
- Setting the Record Straight on XenDesktop (there’s not that much difference between XenDesktop and View apparently? )
- Interesting comment towards the bottom – Lastly, while I differ with most of what one VMware Community member, Rkelly, posted re View vs. XenDesktop, I have to say I agree with his final point for the IT team in any VMware shop: "Download the trial versions of both products and see for yourself" . You just can’t beat a “Try before you buy”
From Alessandro and Virtualization.info
 
The company already has a Xen-based client hypervisor and a fairly complex web-based console which uses virtual machines, snapshots and clones to publish the right system environment to the right user with the right customization. Now Virtual Computer also simplified the management of the application layer thanks to a technology partnership with XenoCode, the application virtualization company that already has an OEM deal with Novell.
Compared to the Novell agreement, Virtual Computer is not OEM’ing the XenoCode Virtual Application Studio. It is just supporting the applications virtualized with the XenoCode technology out-of-the-box inside its NxTop virtual machines.
It is not a revolution but this way Virtual Computer is silently building an end-to-end VDI stack that one day could rival with the upcoming ones from Citrix and VMware.
And lastly…. I haven’t see this before? The AppFactory, based in UK from the looks of it and  promising to Virtualize your Apps from 149 pounds an App?
I wonder how well these guys will do? Very slick and professional web site, so it will be interesting to hear how well they do?
written by dcaddick
It seems that although I have been running various early releases of Windows 7 since around late January I have had no real problems at all – but just prior to being out of the office for an event I found a few issues:
- VPN wasn’t working for some reason
- I didn’t have the time to troubleshoot it
- The event was Tech Ed 09 and as it was sort of like a soft Launch for Windows 7 I thought I’d do a final build with proper release code from MSDN
It seems that although the USB was working correctly through all the previous releases – it was this final release that tipped it over the edge and for some reason caused the USB subsystem to quite erratic and would only recognise very few devices.
And so the answer was to update the BIOS
I have not touched the BIOS since I got the device originally so it was still on F.0 – the latest currently available is F.14
When I went to install F.14 I was warned that I needed to upgrade to F.10 first…
Once this was installed ALL USB was working exactly as advertised.
I just thought it worth mentioning that before or after installing Windows 7 that it’s worth making sure the BIOS is up to date as well?
written by dcaddick
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Aug 18
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Hardware, Microsoft, Networks, Performance, Remote Protocols, Thin Clients, Troubleshooting, Vista, WiFi, Windows 7, XPe
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Some while back one of my US based colleagues passed on some advice about checking out some details on how to get the best out of Wireshark
For anyone interested in getting their feet wet using Wireshark the network protocol analyzer. This knowledge can be useful to have when dealing with network anomalies.
www.chappellseminars.com/s-wireshark101.html
Download the latest 1.2.1
As you may or may not know this was originally called Ethereal, and then morphed in to Wireshark, and has recently had quite a number of improvements and has moved from ver. 0.9 to now 1.2 plus in the last few months. There has been quite a number of additions including the ability to graph throughput etc from within the tool, as well as it now supporting GeoIP DB’s so that you can carry out extensive mapping of where the packets are going to or coming from.
http://wiki.wireshark.org/HowToUseGeoIP
Running Windows 7?
If you are running Windows 7 – then do be aware that the WinPcap driver (the component that does the sniffing) will fail to install by default – but if you modify the executable to run in Vista SP1 compatability mode then all should be fine – as detailed below:
I’ve just downloaded WinPcap 4.1 beta5 from here: WinPcap, the Packet Capture and Network Monitoring Library for Windows Set the compatibility mode to Windows Vista (right click on the installer executable then select Properties; on the Compatibility tab, check "Run this program in compatibility mode for", select Windows Vista SP1 from the dropdown list, then finally click OK =)) and it will install as it should.
For me it worked flawlessly so far.
Further reading
I then followed this up a bit further and noted that after a recent Sharkfest event there were a number of presentations made by a chap called Ray Tompkins (CEO of Gearbit) and these are available at:
At Sharkfest 2009 gearbit presented 3 sessions::
Finding the Latency:
How Protocols Work:
Wireshark Charts & IO Graphs:
OSTU – Wireshark IO Graph for Response Time Analysis:
Understanding the Need for Protocol Analysis: HYPERLINK
OSTU – Wireshark Case Study: Benchmark Test
OSTU – Wireshark TCP Stream Graphs
OSTU – Wireshark Capture Filters
OSTU – Wireshark Display Filters
OSTU – Identifying Zero Window with Wireshark
If you do find that you have to dig in on a Customers Site to start doing some serious troubleshooting around Networks then I would seriously recommend the first two presentations in PDF format as they do appear to explain things in a very simple and matter of fact way.
Wireless Issues:
Now this should in no way be any sort of substitute for a proper Wireless Survey, but when you find that you are up against some issues then try using inSSIDer as a very good starting point? And it works on Windows 7 straight out of the box
written by dcaddick
So some of you may be aware that the new T5545 was released some while back with a new O/S designated ThinPro – this has recently been updated with a new release of Build 31 and now looks a little like this in Admin mode:
 
To switch to Admin mode there is a simple menu action in the lower left:
and the default password is “root”
Updated T5145 with ThinPro:
Now that by itself may not seem too significant but there has also been some significant changes to the T5145 – the old Admin Interface (ID:Admin\Pwd:Admin) looked like this:
But the newly released version HP ThinPro for HP t5145 Thin Client (128 MB) available for download since Jul 31st looks like the T5545?
In fact there appears to be very little difference between the two – even down to the fact that under the Advanced Tab there is an XTerm Console available?
written by dcaddick
Just like London Buses, you wait around for ages, and then they all turn up at once? (Whitepapers, that is?)
HP reference configuration for Citrix XenApp: 1,500 Microsoft Office 2003 users on HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades
This document illustrates multiple blades configurations using bare-metal configurations and converting them to virtualized ones. The goal is to illustrate the value of virtualization and detail cost and associated power improvements.
There are three configurations discussed:
- Configuration 1: x64, bare-metal – Four HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades
- Configuration 2: x64, virtualized – Five HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades
- Configuration 3: x86, virtualized – Four HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades
But I think that even with just these two images they tell the story quite succinctly?
Figure 1. Reference configuration 1 – Four bare-metal HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades (x64) – 1,608 users
Figure 2. Reference configuration 2 – Five virtualized HP ProLiant BL460c G6 server blades (x64) – 1,700 users
written by dcaddick
If installing Citrix XenDesktop Receiver on any HP Thin Client with Windows XPe *prior* to the most recent release (Build 710) you may get an error, even after removing the original Citrix Client, that it is unable to install because of a previous Citrix Client install still exists… I didn’t really waste any time on looking for the root cause as to whether it’s caused by the Uninstall routine of the preinstalled Citrix Client or other components…
Here’s the way I got it to work manually:
- Log on as Administrator
- Uninstall the Citrix Program Neighborhood client
- Delete the registry key HKClassesRoot\Software\Microsoft\Installer\Products\086B4262CB2…. (I didn’t write it all down)
Search for “Citrix” in RegEdit, It’ll be very near the top
- Install Desktop Receiver Embedded Edition v11.10
The other alternative would be to re-image the device before you start with the most recent release?
And to set the the device to load the logon web page directly, set the registry entry:
written by dcaddick
I was asked an interesting question at Tech@Work last week here in Sydney – I was asked by someone from Local Govt. where they could find TCO or ROI Calculators for justifying the purchase of Thin Clients.
This chap also wanted know where the break-even cost was for implementing Thin Clients?
So after chatting to him for a little while it became apparent that like a large number of SMB organizations they had the following:
- 150 or so PC’s
- 3 different types
- No real desktop management system other than Ghost
- They had attempted creating an SOE, but had not finished/followed it through
So I pointed out that it was likely that they already knew and understood the true annual cost of PC Support as published by Gartner in that it was likely to be costing them in the region of 140 – 160% of the capital cost of the PC per year? Yes they were.
So at this I pointed out that they have effectively proven to them selves that Thin Clients make sense – so why didn’t they just target say the receptionists (who only typically use email?) and replace the PC with a Thin Client and point the browser at the Web version of GroupWise? 3 x receptionists = 3 times the saving? and build on things from there?
It didn’t dawn on me till later that by asking for TCO/ROI/break-even costs he was actually wanting info on how PC’s compare to VDI? (and presumably he was wondering about the costs of the back end?) He just didn’t mention it all.
I guess my point is that you can start using Thin Clients in lots of places within in an organization to cut costs today before you even start down any road with VDI, Brokers, Hypervisors, etc. Start being inventive in how the apps can be deployed and used and you’ll start seeing a number of opportunities to do things differently?
written by dcaddick
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