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SCMP Reporter

The network-centric approach is popular again as firms look to trim costs and the US company Wyse broadens its reach

Network-centric computing appears to be making a comeback as enterprises move to trim expenses, raise efficiency and boost security.

But John Kish, president and chief executive at Wyse Technology in California's Silicon Valley, said it never went away.

A much-hyped technology during the dotcom boom, network-centric computing is a low-cost architecture based on stripped-down terminals called 'thin clients', which access all data and software from a central server.

Numbers from International Data Corp (IDC) show that Wyse, Neoware, Hewlett-Packard, VXL Instruments, Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu-Siemens led sales of thin-client devices last year.

Still, thin clients accounted for about 1 per cent of the total PC market.

Mr Kish said the technology survived the lean times after the internet bubble burst because thin clients continued to offer all the functionality of personal computers, 'without the cost and security headaches associated with managing large numbers of desktop and laptop PCs'.

He said the most important development during this decade had been the network infrastructure, which had finally caught up with the technology.

'The convergence of more powerful broadband networks, dramatic growth in wireless devices and the rapid adoption of new technologies in markets like India and China make this the right time to expand the thin-client market around the world,' he said.

To push that agenda, Wyse is looking to forge several strategic alliances this year that would help broaden the reach of its Winterm line of thin clients and Rapport device management software.

Mr Kish said that Wyse had started discussions with China's Lenovo Group and network services providers, and has moved to expand its software development centre in Beijing.

'When integrated with additional hardware, software and services, thin clients become part of a complete business solution,' he said.

Target sectors in Asia included financial services, government, education, transport, health care, hospitality and retail.

Wyse, founded in 1981, introduced the computer industry's first Windows-based thin-client terminal in 1995. It counts more than 40 per cent of the world's 100 largest corporations as customers and is the worldwide leader in thin clients with 35 per cent market share, according to IDC.

'IDC expects the thin-client market to grow some 20 per cent annually for the next several years,' IDC research director Bob O'Donnell  said.

'Continued innovation in design to extend these benefits and enhance versatility, configurability and usability will further drive acceptance and adoption of network-centric computing.'

Research firm Gartner suggested that thin clients could result in up to 41 per cent in cost savings compared with managing PCs.

Wyse Asia-Pacific president Andrew Hu  Baulin said, 'We are seeing renewed interest in network-centric computing among IT managers and chief information officers of companies around this region.'

That development was not lost on Wyse's competitors such as HP, which had also been promoting the productivity gains from the use of thin clients.

Property agent Midland Realty, for instance, replaced traditional desktop PCs at its more than 200 local branches last year with thin-client devices from HP.

Francis Fung,  chief technology officer at Midland Realty, said: 'HP's thin clients empowered our IT staff to do more with less.'

He said that updating software was now done on the server and not, as previously, on every desktop.

Mr Hu said thin-client competitors, which include low-cost rivals from the mainland and Taiwan, helped broaden the awareness for network-centric computing, which remains a growing market for vendors and service providers.

The revitalised expansion plans for Wyse was initiated by California-based private equity firm Garnett & Helfrich Capital, which completed its purchase of a controlling stake worth US$35 million in the thin-client vendor last month from Taiwanese conglomerate the Koos Group.



Focus swings back to thin-client computing