Thin Client Cost Savings

TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return on Investment) are a few acronyms that become more important in a tight economy. These are areas of greatest strength for Thin Client technology.

Moving from a distributed PC system (where hundreds, even thousands, of PCs are scattered all over the building) to a centralized Thin Client solution (where the only PCs reside in a secure location, and dumb terminals are used for the interface) is the quickest way to start saving money immediately. Your employees see the exact same interface they are accustomed to and you only have to maintain a few machines. Just look at some of the benefits that contribute to these cost savings:

  • In just a few hours thousands of Thin Clients can be running a new application (or a new version of an existing application) instead of weeks or months for a traditional PC deployment
  • Security issues are drastically simplified. No data is ever stored on the Thin Client, and viruses cannot be installed on the clients
  • Backups are trivial. Backup a few servers instead of trying to keep valid backup sets for thousands of PCs
  • Deployment of a new Thin Client simply requires plugging it into the network - and there are no issues with hardware incompatibility
  • If a Thin Client does fail, simply plug in a new one and it picks off right where the old one left off without the need to install any software or applications
  • Load Balancing allows more efficient dispersal of computing resources
  • Legal and compliance issues become less complex when all files are stored only on the servers
  • Internet access can be distributed to any Thin Client without worrying that it will expose data or sensitive applications

Fat Savings from Thin Clients

Gartner Group maintains that the total cost of ownership per year and per user for a desktop computer is $5,400—which includes training and deployment costs—compared to $2,200 per Thin Client. An actual case study at one user who switched showed $90/month costs associated with a Thin Client verses $210/month with a PC. Another IDC report showed a decline in hardware/software costs of 40 percent and a reduction in IT operations costs by 29 percent. IDC found that annual hardware procurement costs dropped from $475 for a PC-based desktop to $285 per Thin Client, and that less trouble calls and fewer hardware repairs increased IT worker productivity by 56%.

Here are links to a few articles we have done over the years that discuss cost savings:

Actual Costs of running a PC

A look at where IT spends its money and how Thin Clients address these costs

A look at a Gartner Group study on TCO

And a look at energy and disposal cost savings

Interactive ROI calculator