Thin Clients Now In Notebook Form
0Overall Score

Wyse Technology is launching two new thin notebooks – the X90 and X90e – which are the first thin client notebooks to offer multimedia video playback, Bluetooth 2.0 and build-in smart card support, according to the manufacturer.


Click to enlarge
Sporting a 12.1-inch LCD wide screen, Wi-Fi and optional 3G wireless capabilities, the new Wyse notebooks offer all the flexibility and applications needed by business users on-the-go.

Click to enlarge

Unlike traditional notebooks, the Wyse X90e displays applications housed on VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Citrix Application Delivery and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server data centres, storing data on the user’s office network server instead of a hard drive (the unit doesn’t have a hard drive), meaning users don’t need to worry about security.

The thin client notebooks reflect the growing number of professionals who require broadband access when on-the-go, according to the company.

“Given the shift to notebooks on the PC side, it’s critical for thin client vendors to come up with solid offerings and it finally seems as if those efforts are starting to bear fruit,” said IDC vice president of research, Bob O’Donnell.

“For the first half of 2007, mobile thin client shipments only represented 1.6 percent of the market. However, we expect that percentage to grow strongly over time.”

 

Wyse Technology currently owns 75 per cent of the thin client market in Australia, according to the company, and has supplied to large corporations including Harvey World Travel.

The two new notebooks however, team the convenience and security of a thin client box with the portability of a PC.

With no hard drive or fan, the Wyse X90 and X90e thin client notebooks have no moving parts, and therefore operates silently, says Wyse.

Other features include 512MB of flash, 512MB of RAM, an overall weight of 1.76kgs with battery, capability for Ethernet, USB, built-in Wi-Fi, or cellular connections.

The Wyse X90 thin notebook complements existing Wyse thin client lines and comes in two configurations — X90 and X90e. The X90 retails for $1083 including GST while the X90e with built-in Bluetooth and smart card support retails for $1208 including GST. Both models support Wyse’s zero client computing vision, says Wyse.