The 2X ThinClientServer provides the ability to centrally manage thin client devices; it is deployed on a central server and houses the terminal and connection settings that will be used by the thin clients themselves. A Web-based management interface and Active Directory/LDAP support enable the central management of such settings. The platform supports the management of actual 3rd party thin clients (the vendor lists HP, Neoware, Wyse, Maxspeed and more) as well as the ability to convert existing PCs (200MHz MMX Pentium+ w/32MB RAM+ for HD booting, 64MB RAM+ for CD/PXE booting) for use as thin clients.

In both cases, the thin clients themselves boot up via hard disk, PXE, Etherboot, CD-ROM, or USB depending on their BIOS settings. In the case of PXE or Etherboot boot ups, the thin client receives the address of the TFTP server (included with the product and typically installed on the same machine) and automatically downloads the Linux-based ThinClientOS (the vendor states this O/S as approximately 15 MB in size) for further boot up. Hard drive, CD-ROM, and USB drives proceed to boot up from their own images without retrieving the thin client O/S.

Having booted up, the thin client then retrieves the address of the ThinClientServer (via DHCP or DNS Server queries), and then prompts the user for a username and password. The sequence is completed with the thin client retrieving from the ThinClientServer the centrally managed parameters pertaining to that user (parameters which can leverage Active Directory/LDAP usernames, groups or OUs). Parameters for the thin client include settings such as their designated terminal server name and type (RDP, Citrix ICA or NX), which terminal servers/VMware virtual desktops the user has access to, their screen/resolution size, applications the user may access, etc. The ThinClientOS can then run the appropriate desktop client (RDP, ICA, NX) with the supplied settings for the final connection to the designated terminal server. In other words, ThinClientServer is not, in and of itself, a terminal server; but rather centrally manages the thin client connections to other terminal servers.

Components of the ThinClientServer platform include the aforementioned ThinClientOS and ThinClientServer (for Windows or Linux); a TFTP server for delivering the ThinClientOS image to computers booting via Etherboot or PXE; the Web-based management console (delivered via Apache/PHP); and MySQL.

New features in the latest ThinClientServer release include a new Web-based GUI for the management console, improved boot times, load balancing for PXE booting, and support for Windows 2008.

Two versions of ThinClientServer are available. The PXES version is a free download, but does not support connections to Citrix terminal servers. The ThinClientServer Enterprise Edition does support Citrix connections and is priced at $595 for managing up to 25 thin clients with higher volume pricing available. A 120-day trial version is also available.

Contact 2X Software for further information.