"Dumb terminals" may be smart for security

Jan 30, 2007 3:38 PM

A new generation of simplified devices -- most often called "thin clients" or "simple terminals" -- is gaining popularity with an increasing number of companies and other computer users in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The stripped-down machines enable users to perform such tasks as word processing or accessing the Internet at their desks just as they did with their personal computers.

The difference? These simple terminals generally lack features such as hard drives or DVD players, so they cannot run most software or store data on their own. Instead, the software applications used on a thin terminal's screen are actually running on a server, often in a separate room.

The basic terminals appear to offer improved security, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Because the systems are designed to keep data on a server, sensitive information is not compromised if a terminal gets lost, stolen or damaged. And if security programs or other applications need to be updated, the new software is installed on only the central servers, rather than on all the individual PCs scattered throughout a network.

"People have recognized if you start to centralize this stuff and more tightly manage it, you can reduce your cost and reduce the security-related issues, because you have fewer things to monitor," Bob O'Donnell, an analyst with the technology research firm IDC, tells the WSJ.

While these terminals remain a small fraction of the market, thin-client shipments world-wide in 2006 rose to 2.8 million units valued at $873.4 million, up 20.8 percent from the previous year, according to IDC projections. The category is expected to increase 21.5 percent annually through 2010.

One company that recently moved away from PCs to these new bare-bones terminals is Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co., according to the WSJ report. Last year, the Farmington Hills, Mich., insurer spent around $1.2 million for simple terminals to replace 750 aging desktop personal computers in eight offices.

Jack Wilson, Amerisure's enterprise architect who led the project, says the reasons behind the switch were simple. The company was able to connect all of the employees to the network through the terminals and manage them more easily from 10 servers in a central location, instead of a couple servers at each of the eight offices previously.

The caveat is that the simplified terminals can translate to less freedom for individual users and less flexibility in how they use their computers. Without a hard drive in their desktop machines, users may place greater demands on computer technicians for support and access to additional software such as instant messaging, instead of downloading permitted applications themselves. Analysts say it takes time for employees to get used to not controlling their own PCs.

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