Comp Support customers to receive 3.1 at no charge.

Kevin West

On June 18, 2007 ACP will release version 3.1 of ThinManager. This thin client configuration, management, and security suite for thin client networks now offers even more functionality.

MultiMonitor adds support for up to 5 monitors using available hardware from Advantech and Arista. Using the MultiMonitor wizard a user can configure up to five monitors in a variety of layouts using spanning and screening. When used with MultiSession the thin client can be configured to run a separate session on each monitor through a single thin client. [...]

Security Concerns Boost Thin Client Sales

Tom Jordan

A few days ago a company called Websense, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBSN) announced the results of the company’s seventh annual IT Decision-Maker Web@Work study.

Some of the threats they explored:

Spyware – Hacker software that runs undetected on a PC and is usually designed to monitor and report back any data the criminal thinks will be to his advantage.

Keyloggers – Spyware that has the ability to record keystrokes and screen shots.

Bots – (short for robot) – Software unknowingly installed on an end-user’s PC and can communicate with other computers on the outside of the company. [...]

What Does ACP Do?

Tom Jordan

Here is the Elevator Pitch – the 15 second version of our product that you could lay out during an elevator ride:

ACP provides management tools and software for Thin Clients and Terminal Servers. Thin Clients allow you to run standard Windows applications like a mainframe, with multiple users running at the same time on a single server, dramatically reducing costs.

If the person is interested, I normally hear a number of follow-up questions. Here are some of the most common ones with my answers: [...]

Thin Client I/O

Tom Jordan

There are two methods for getting data into a Thin Client system – through the Server, or through the Clients.

Getting data through the Server

For small installations, where input/output devices are not very far from the Server, and there are not many devices to read, this can be a very good solution. It is certainly the most traditional, with I/O devices being connected to serial ports or special hardware installed in the Server. As all Thin Client software runs on the Server anyway, there is no problem with each client identifying its input or output devices with physical addresses on the Server. This is also very efficient, as data doesn’t have to travel through the Client, to the Server, and back to the Client. However, it is very limited – a Server can only handle so much I/O, and if devices are far removed there will be difficulties in moving data (especially serial data) over the distance. [...]

Upgrading a Glass Coating Plant

Tom Jordan

Several years ago, a glass manufacturer was building a new glass coating facility. They wanted to use all the latest technology, especially for the control and monitoring system. It was decided that one of the new MS-Windows based HMI packages, Wonderware, would be used.

The operator interface screens (HMI or Human Machine Interface) were used to monitor every aspect of the coating operation. A particular challenge in this application is that the customer wanted almost all of the points needed for process monitoring displayed at the same time. This resulted in a main display consisting of tiled InTouch screens showing about 1500 points. These screens are displayed almost all of the time

The control system consisted of 3 industrial computers in the main control room and 2 on the manufacturing floor. Each computer ran Microsoft’s Windows 3.1 and WonderWare’s Intouch HMI package. Two large PLCs were responsible for controlling the manufacturing process – one PLC for each of the manufacturing floor PCs – with Ethernet communications between the PC and the PLC. All required data was then distributed to the other PCs via NetDDE. The system performed very well, but over the time many limitations were discovered. The following is a list of the major issues: [...]

Critical Water Operations: Moving Forward with a New Setup

Tom Jordan

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One of Ireland’s Largest Pharmaceutical Companies Deploys New Thin Client Infrastructure

When it came time to replace old PCs that had been used to manage the critical water operations at one of Ireland’s largest pharmaceutical companies, they called on SolutionsPT and Control & Information Management Ltd (CIM) in Dublin to recommend a new path forward. The customer needed to replace the system they were using to control the clean water input and the wastewater output for all of their facility’s processes. Both were GMP systems, critical to the site’s operation, providing water to the multiple buildings located at the site. [...]