It was just a few years ago that India's PC adoption rate was in a dismal state.This year, IDC stated that one in every 50 Indian owns a PC, which shows a marked improvement.

Many vendors are zeroing in on to this opportunity at hand. While this success story goes on, another parallel one is being spun, slowly but steadily. Thin client computing, a technology that has been around for the past two decades, is now making a comeback, and though vendors wouldn't say that this market is booming as such, they agree that the market for thin clients in India is opening up and offers huge potentials.

In a way, this market is all set to give the PC market a run for its money, or at least make it sit up and take notice. At least that is what statistics seem to suggest.

The growth in this market can be seen from the increase in the unit shipment. According to IDC, in 2005, thin clients shipment worldwide increased about 43 percent from 2.4 million in 2004. This year the market is all set to see an increase to 4.2 million, which is almost double the earlier figure.

Thin computing is a technology whereby multiple monitors are connected to a thin client, which is basically a centrally managed computer without a hard disk. It gives the users all the basic functions they would need from their PCs, minus the problems associated with independent computers such as security, software and maintenance.

So why did this technology, which has been around for a while now, never take off in the first place? And if there are so many advantages it offers, then why are there still not as many takers for it?

	"In BPOs and call centers, computer viruses are major threats. Data is critical and so is its security. Agents cannot forward the data or misuse it when a thin client is deployed"
S Balaji, Deputy GM-Marketing and Support, HCL Peripherals

Take two
They say there is a time for everything. But there are those who think ahead and have to wait for their time to come.

Thin clients fall into this category. At the time when thin clients were introduced way back in the 80s, the technology to support it was not as advanced. Hence, thin computing, which was earlier known as 'graphical terminals', took a backseat. Not to mention, this technology was very expensive then (as it was till just a year back). Most applications were also not web-based then and the available applications were mostly for plain server architecture.

“Most businesses didn't have central server architecture. Only the big companies, who understood the technology, deployed it back then. It was in the late 90s that thin clients began to see success,” explained S Balaji, Deputy GM-Marketing and Support, HCL Peripherals. HCL first dabbled in the thin clients market in 1994.

Wyse Technologies, a leading player in this segment, has also been paying much attention to the Indian thin computing market. Speaking about why the technology was not highly successful when introduced some years back, S Adhikari, Head-Sales and Business Development, India, Wyse Technology said, “At the time thin clients were introduced, the technology available, or the backend, was not so robust. The available bandwidth was not so good, mainframe was not reliable and there was too much redundancy. People depended too much on CPUs. But today we have broadband, robust server architecture, and virtual desktops and server software.”

Agreeing that thin clients did not get its share of success back when it was first introduced, Sanjay Peer, Director-Channel Sales, India and SAARC, VIA Technologies added that it had come a long way since its introduction. Shedding light on why thin clients are back in vogue he commented, “The entire ecosystem of hardware, software, network connectivity and central storage around thin client computing has evolved. Today, thin clients can be deployed across a wide range of applications within many business verticals. MIS managers and hardware consultants have started noticing immense benefits of deploying thin clients. They are demanding thin client solutions from their respective solution providers. All these developments are translating into higher levels of interest and growing popularity.”

Page(s)   1  2  3  4