Investigate Thin Clients for a little while, and you will very quickly come to the conclusion that, over time, the Thin Client approach is the most cost effective. Decreased system complexity that comes from placing simplified "Windows Terminals" throughout a plant instead of full PCs means the total cost of ownership for each workstation is reduced. Lost or damaged Thin Client equipment only requires a 15-minute product replacement rather than the several day task of commissioning a new PC.
Many people have installed a Thin Client system figuring that, although it may not have the lowest price initially, over the next year a Thin Client system will have the lowest cost.
Many of those people were pleasantly surprised.
ACP focuses on Thin Client solutions for the industrial market. When the initial cost of a true industrial PC is compared with the initial cost of a true industrial Thin Client, the Thin Client system can actually cost less once the number of clients goes over 5 or 6.
The numbers speak for themselves. The following are all list prices, in US Dollars:
Total Price for 20 user Thin Client system: $69,530
Total Price for 20 Industrial Computers: $79,300
With the almost $10,000 savings you could even purchase a second, smaller server just for redundancy and still come out ahead.
This price is just the raw price for hardware. The amount of IT time required to install 20 PCs is obviously much higher than the IT time required to install a single server. This makes even the initial installation of a 20 client Thin Client system take much less time, which is saving even more money.
For more information on ACP Industrial Thin Client computers, please visit our web site at http://www.thinmanager.com
To sign up for the E-mail newsletter go here: ACP newsletter signup
For an archive of past newsletter articles go to: ACP Newsletter Archive