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We have talked with customers who have taken a look at Terminal Services in the past, but decided against it because it was either too complicated or it didn't do the things that they needed it to do. What we have been shipping for almost two years is a product that runs on top of the standard Terminal Services operating systems from Microsoft (like Windows 2000 Server) and provides enhancements required by the industrial market, while at the same time drastically simplifying the setup and configuration of the clients. Our flagship product, ThinManager, provides the system administrator with tools not found on any competing Thin Client platform, and we have used this article to list some of them.
Our clients are constantly checking in with the server - at the first sign of server trouble, they drop that server (the primary) and move to the next one listed in their configuration. But it doesn't stop there. While the client is running on one of the backup servers, it is constantly checking with the primary server. If you have configured the client to have an "Enforced Primary" server, then once the original server is back online, the client will switch itself back. If you already have a session for the client running on the other server, then the switch takes about 6 seconds.
This feature is also used for server updates. The Primary server is taken offline and all of the clients running on it switch to their backup. The Primary server is then updated, and when it is brought back online its clients come back. We also see systems configured where the clients don't all fail to the same server. For instance, a server hosting 20 clients may have 10 go to one backup and 10 to go another, keeping the load down on the backup servers.
To function as a drop-in replacement for an industrial PC, our clients need to be able to handle the same I/O that can be handled by a full PC, and that includes Profibus and DeviceNet. It also includes support for high-speed serial devices which, while often found in a factory, are not ever supported by non-ACP Enabled Thin Clients. Other Thin Clients may have a serial port, but they are designed for light, intermediate use - not the kind of reliable throughput needed to grab serial data from a PLC.
All ACP Enabled Thin Clients also come with support for all of the major Touchscreen models. Not only do we support them, our management software also allows an administrator to send a calibration command to the Touchscreen at any time that simply overlays a 'touch target' on the screen. Touch the target twice and the calibration display goes away and the screen is calibrated. The application never stops running on the server. A company having trouble with Touchscreens going out of calibration could send down a calibrate command to all of the clients daily, and when the operator sees the calibration display he can perform the procedure.
Operators on the floor need to have the full interface to their Windows based control and monitoring systems, but without the support difficulties associated with a PC. Thin Clients allow this, but ACP has taken Thin Client ease of use a step further by providing for automatic configuration and replacement. Once a default client has been configured through ThinManager, ACP Enabled clients are added simply by turning them on. Each new client gets the default configuration, along with a unique username. Clients can be set to auto-login (so the user never even sees the login screen) and even start a specific application (like Wonderware's TSE software) instead of the desktop.
We made replacement just as easy. If a client is swapped with a new client, ThinManager recognizes the new client and asks if this should be a new user or connect to the session from the previous client. The great thing about this is that it happens at the client, without any need for intervention from the server. This means that an operator can swap a client in the middle of the night when resources in the IT department may be difficult to find.
ThinManager, ACP's Thin Client management software, can be run from anywhere on the network. Its Windows interface gives the administrator instant feedback on the status of every client in the system. Terminals are listed on the left side of the screen, and the terminal properties are displayed in the panel on the right. Standard Windows commands and sequences give access to every parameter in the system. Create groups of clients, and any terminal added to that group inherits the properties of the group. If you are running ThinManager on a machine other than one of the servers, you can even watch as the clients fail over to a different server, and then watch them switch back when the primary server comes back online.
There are now nine different hardware vendors who are providing a Thin Client enabled with ACP Technology. And when you add in our office grade Thin Clients, and the clients that can be created using our new Thin Adapter, you have quite a selection of clients from which to choose. Each of these clients has the exact same properties and abilities - they only differ in the specifics of the client hardware. Once you get a Thin Client system up and going, any of these clients can be plugged in and turned on and will boot as a fully functional ACP Enabled Thin Client, with its configuration controlled and monitored by ACP's ThinManager.
There are many office grade Thin Clients that are now almost useless because they were based on Windows CE 2.0. There are sometimes mechanisms to upgrade these devices, but the process is usually cumbersome. With all ACP Enabled clients, the client's operating system is kept on the server, and loaded (in about 4 seconds over 10MB Ethernet) at boot-up. Update the software on the server, and all clients get the new version the next time that they start up so they never become obsolete or have to be reprogrammed.
And for slower connections (dial-up or wireless modem) that use ACP Enabled clients with a disk-on-chip device, each time that the client boots it checks to see if there is a newer version of its firmware available. If the answer is 'yes', the user is given the option of loading the latest version into the client's memory by answering a simple question.
ACP is not only the company to turn to for industrial Thin Client solutions, we are also the leading company in the world when it comes to Thin Client management and control software. Visit our homepage (www.acpthinclient.com) and take a look at what ACP has to offer. You'll be glad you did.
For more information on ACP Industrial Thin Client computers, please visit our web site at http://www.thinmanager.com
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