Businesses Deploying Thin Clients to Drive Desktop Management Savings

Reading. UK – July 22nd, 2010 – IGEL Technology, the world’s third largest thin client manufacturer, reported that its UK business grew 73% in the first half of 2010 as organisations invested in their desktop infrastructure to deliver further management savings. In the UK, IGEL saw a 64% increase in its traditional thin client business and a 9% increase in its Universal Desktop Converter software licenses, which allow businesses to convert old PCs and thin clients into IGEL thin clients. The major growth sectors were in healthcare, local government and retail.

“Many organisations have already consolidated their backroom IT operations and taken advantage of the efficiencies. They are now turning their attention to the desktop environment and looking at how to manage it more effectively,” explained Simon Richards, IGEL UK General Manager. “During the recession, many organisations decided not to invest in the desktop infrastructure and to sweat their assets. As they emerge from this period, they are now looking at how to upgrade their desktops but also how to make them more efficient and manageable in today’s tough business environment.”

IGEL Universal Desktops are proving popular because they are ideal for a centrally managed or virtualized environment. With no moving parts, they are reliable, secure from viruses, environmentally friendly in power consumption and sleek in design for today’s desktops. Combined with IGEL’s Universal Management Suite of software, which comes free with each IGEL device, businesses are able to minimise deployment, administration and maintenance costs by managing quickly and efficiently from a central location.

Moving forward, IGEL predicts continued growth from the trends of virtualization and cloud computing. “Many organisations are now looking to virtualize their desktop environment, following the virtualization of their back office, and thin clients are an ideal choice in this situation,” explained Simon. “In addition, we are also seeing increased interest in Hosted Desktops, where an organisation’s backroom IT infrastructure is hosted in the cloud and companies pay a monthly subscription to use a thin client on the desktop.”