Thin Client Assessment

Introduction

Leveraging VDI solutions, organizations are another step closer to deliver “IT as a Service” through policy-driven management.  Operational tasks can be automated that lead to efficiency and increased business agility moving organizations from where they “Are” towards where they “Want to be”.  VDI’s decouple the Operating System, Business Applications and User Data from the underlying hardware.  As a result there is an increased number of Hardware Vendors offering Terminal products to compliment VDI implementations.    

Requirements of Lexcom’s VDI Program is to provide detailed internal documentation so any staff member has access to VDI expertise, and to publish Research & Development results for potential VDI customers.  We believe that customers will choose Lexcom first because we have already put the effort into finding out how the pieces fit together. 

We have taken the initiative to contact each vendor that has a product compatible with VMware View 4.0 and have asked them to participate in our research.  We described that our research was targeting business between 50 – 500 VDI’s, required key features such as Multimedia Redirection, and had to be able to centrally administer the product.  This report summarizes our research and ranks the terminals found on VMware’s Thin Client Compatibility List.

Requirements

We prepared a Linked Clone environment of 3 Windows XP Virtual Desktops in order to establish an environment for testing each terminal.  We broke down the assessment as follows:

Features

1. Multimedia Redirection – The intention was to simulate how a traditional PC is used in both a large corporate environment and a small office environment to assess how the terminals performed.  We felt that a Scanner, USB Flash Drive and a Local Printer represented  how the most common peripheral devices were attached, but we also tested specific connections with BlackBerry’s, External CD/DVD’s and Camera’s.
2. Multiple Displays – Based on Lexcom’s existing client base, there are requirements for Single, Dual and Quad Displays.
3. LAN Connection – On LAN connections we wanted to test both the traditional RDP protocol and PCoIP which will take advantage of enhanced performance features of Virtual Desktops.
4. Cloud Connection - To simulate a Remote Office worker, we wanted to establish a connection via the Cloud and Remote Access VPN.

Deployment and Management

1. Out of the Box Configuration – Upon receiving, we wanted to determine how much effort it was to take the terminal out of the box, hook up the necessary devices and begin to use the device.
2. Centrally Managed – Each terminal must be able to be controlled centrally in order to push out firmware changes &, application changes and be able to track inventory.   

Vendor Support

The other key requirement for these terminals is the experience with each manufacturer.  We rated each vendor based upon a knowledgeable sales team, the procurement process and what sort of access to support they provide.

Findings

While some terminals certainly performed better than others, overall the User Experience with VDI was excellent.  Not only have we conducted the research for this report, but we continue to use VDI internally and are realizing the promoted Operational benefits as advertised. Performance benefits are noticeable with Windows 7 over Windows XP, however our research has uncovered some restrictions with Windows 7 in this version of View.  These issues are said to be addressed in View 4.5.  Deploying Linked Clones, Multiple Displays with PCoIP and Microphones are all examples of these restrictions. We tested the 3CX VOIP application and live voice worked very well, however the Microphone could not be enabled. For Remote Office Workers connecting via the cloud, you should have a minimum of 1.5 mbps connection, with a recommended connection speed of 2.0mbps.  (It will function at speeds lower than that, but there will be a noticeable latency).  5.0mbps experience is the same as on LAN (RDP).  Remote Access VPN allows for you to utilize PCoIP, currently this will consume a great deal of bandwidth which may be a concern for the ISP.

Not all vendors chose to participate in the Trials, and some were not actual physical devices, rather Thin Client OS’s which can be deployed on existing hardware.  Other devices which have been utilized but not ranked were Wyse V90L, Wyse S10, Samsung NC240 (PcoIP), HP t5145, DevonIT TC2B.

Download the report here.