Thin Client Computing

Power consumption from computer use is a hot topic in many corporate boardrooms. To offset high electricity costs, many companies have purchased energy efficient server technologies. Some have replaced desktop computers with those running low power processors and have made sure that the power management options are turned on. For some companies, this is not enough . . .

To further reduce the electrical consumption used by computers, some businesses have opted for thin client computing solutions. Not to be mistaken for the latest diet craze, thin clients are a server based computing platform that provides users with the same interface, applications, and performance as a desktop based computer.

Since the thin client’s performance is driven by a server instead of local processor, there is a significant amount of power savings when in a large environment. When powered on and running applications, some thin clients consume only 7 Watts of power. In order to achieve an ENERGY STAR logo, a standard computer is required to consume 15 Watts of power while in sleep mode.

Power consumption is not the only aspect of green computing that thin clients offer. Since there’s no hard drive and there is limited microprocessor and memory requirements, there is less ecologically damaging waste. With limited components, the price per thin client is significantly less although the server required to run the thin clients needs to compensate with enough processing power so that they can run effectively.