Tag: thin client

Real World ThinManager | Part 8

Kevin West

Warehouse

PROBLEM:
• Paper oriented dispatch system forced operators to central area for each new order.

SOLUTION:
• Wireless thin clients mounted on forklifts allowed operators to receive instructions “on the go”.
• Scanners on serial port allowed verification using barcodes on delivered products.

A manufacturer used a primitive paper system for dispatching the forklifts to deliver materials used in the process. After each run the forklifts would need to return to the dispatch office for the next package of paperwork. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 7

Kevin West

Food Production

PROBLEM:
• Night-shift worker installed an application with a virus on a PC.
• The infected PC controlled the HVAC system and could not close vents for fumigation.
• The plant had to stop production for 4 days to allow re-scheduling of the required treatment.

SOLUTION:
• Thin clients prevent access to operating system.

Fumigation of a large food production site takes careful planning and coordination to guarantee safety and prevent contamination. Fumigations are scheduled during employee holidays to prevent production interruption. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 6

Kevin West

Manufacturing in a Dusty Environment

PROBLEM:
• As many as 3 PCs failing each week requiring IT and maintenance support.

• Up to 6 hours of lost production time for each failure.

SOLUTION:
• No moving parts mean that ThinManager Ready thin clients are more reliable.
• Failures can be replaced by operator in 15 minutes or less..

A manufacturing plant had PCs in a dusty environment. The fans sucked in dust and debris causing overheating and failure after about a year. Since the company had 200 PCs, several had to be replaced each week. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 5

Kevin West

Power Generation

PROBLEM:
• Critical remote auxiliary gas turbine is rarely used but must be ready immediately when demand arises.

SOLUTION:
• Turbine area now controlled from main control room.
• Redundancy and Instant Failover make sure it’s always ready to be put into action.

A coal-fired power plant added a gas turbine generator to help meet power demand during peak usage periods.

The gas turbine generator has to be ready at all times but is used infrequently enough that it is unmanned. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 4

Kevin West

Chemical Processing

PROBLEM:
• PCs scattered throughout a multi-acre site made routine maintenance a major hassle.

SOLUTION:

• ThinManager Ready thin clients are managed in the central control room.
• Thin clients no longer need to be visited for maintenance.

A chemical plant had PCs all over a huge refinery, including some located in towers that were up 10 flights of stairs. Maintaining and patching the PCs took hours of walking and climbing.

ThinManager and terminal servers were deployed, allowing the PCs to be replaced with ThinManager Ready thin clients. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 3

Kevin West

Cheese Manufacturing

PROBLEM:
• Humid environment causing frequent PC failures.

SOLUTION:
• Replaced PCs with thin clients
• Thin clients are more reliable and less sensitive to harsh environments than PCs.
• Small form factor allows thin clients to be placed in a protective panel to combat humidity.

Part of the cheese making process requires a saltwater rinse to cure newly made cheese as it passes through an extruder. The mist from the process coats the entire room with a thick condensation. Because of the requirements of the food manufacturing process every surface is hosed down each day with strong cleansers to maintain sterility. Even though bags of silica gel were stacked in the panels to try to protect the PCs from the moisture, the elements were still affecting the PCs as fans circulated air through them for cooling. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 2

Kevin West

Chemical Plant

PROBLEM:

• Outmoded paper strip charts were a hassle and did not give instant real-time trending.

SOLUTION:
• Replaced strip charts with thin clients.
• Collected I/O in SQL server and backed up and archived.
• Archive gave operators the ability to see trending patterns in a more efficient manner.

Emission monitoring charts are critical to pollution control. Before their thin client installation this company captured this data on paper strip charts printed on machines that require oiling, inking, and paper refills. [...]

Real World ThinManager | Part 1

Kevin West

Distribution & Logistics

PROBLEM:
• Shipping company needed real-time information from 30+ remote sites.

SOLUTION:
• Deployed ThinManager at each remote site.
• Set up a “war room” with 30 thin clients.
• Connected each thin client to a remote site via WAN.
• Single operator able to t view activity of all remote sites.

A global company with distribution centers around the world was having trouble getting real-time information from the sites to the headquarters.

The company standardized on ThinManager and deployed ThinManager and terminal servers at each site, setting up a “war room” at the headquarters with a thin client for each remote location. These thin clients boot locally and then connect to a remote terminal server via the corporate WAN. [...]

ACP Announces Version 4.1

Kevin West

ACP announces version 4.1 of their award-winning thin client and terminal services management software.

New version will include support for managing virtual machine environments and an iPhone app

Alpharetta, Georgia, January 2011

ACP’s ThinManager version 4.1 release is scheduled for March 21, 2011 and will be demonstrated live at our TMUG User Group taking place in Atlanta March 29-31. (Register for TMUG2011)

ThinManager 4.1 will include the much anticipated support for virtual machine environments. Users who currently enjoy ThinManager’s ease-of-use when managing their terminal servers and thin clients will now have that same capability when it comes to virtual terminal server and desktop management. VM resources will appear in the ThinManager tree along with other sources currently available. [...]

Top 10 Advantages to Using ThinManager

Tom Jordan

We all know that ThinManager is great, but do you know all the ways ThinManager can help you?  Here are the top 10 advantages of using ThinManager:

1.  Security: ThinManager knows the best security is not letting the problem close enough to be an issue, so we’ve created a secure environment. Terminal Servers can be secured away from public access, USB ports are closed by default and there are no CD or floppy drives to compromise security.  With TermSecure™ we added a second level of security with features like having users access and privileges controlled by administrator, an Auto-login option, and a key blocking module. [...]