Take advantage of 2010 energy incentives and save thousands on your green IT project!

TCS Vision has been hard at work to make it easy for you to take advantage of huge incentives slated for 2010 that can save your company tens of thousands of dollars. There has never been a better time to GO GREEN and save money on your data center operational costs. We are pleased to announce the following promotions available in January of 2010.

Learn more about these incentives today. Contact us to register for a FREE lunch & learn session where you’ll learn the details of these programs. Lunch is on us!

TCS Vision, your technology and innovation partner, can offer $2,000 in incentives and up to $10,000 in incentives for qualifying thin-client consolidation projects**. That means there’s no better time to take control of your company, increase your bottom line, and increase your profitability. Register for your FREE lunch & learn to learn more**.

Server-based computing (SBC) is a technology whereby applications are deployed, managed, supported and executed on the server and not on the client. Instead only the screen information is transmitted between the server and client. This architecture solves the many fundamental problems that occur when executing the applications on the client itself.

In SBC environments hardware & software upgrades, application deployment, technical support, and data storage & backup are simplified because only the servers need to be managed. Data and applications reside on a few servers rather then on hundreds or thousands of clients. PCs become terminals and can be replaced by simpler, less expensive and most importantly easier to manage devices called “thin clients.”

The benefits of server-based computing

1. Management – Administrators can deploy, manage and support applications much more easily because they are held on a central server (or central server farm) and are managed from a single point, simplifying application access and administration.
2. Device independence – Users can access their desktop and indeed any enterprise application from any type of client device.
3. Remote Access – Users can access their desktop and enterprise applications from anywhere on the network, or from home, or on the road.
4. Performance – Server-based computing performs better than a web application or using a client server model. These types of applications require a lot of data to be sent back and forth between the server and the client. Because of the advanced compression ratios achieved by protocols such as ICA, NX and RDP, sending just the screen updates between the server and client is much faster.
5. Security – Server-based computing keeps all the data on the secure servers without it being ’spread out’ onto the less secure client computers. Furthermore the server is in the server room, which is far more secure than on the user’s desk. Less prone to viruses and security breaches – Servers are by definition better managed and because the server OS is more secure, it’s far more difficult for a computer to get infected by a virus.
6. Eliminates patch management of clients – Clients are not running Windows, there is no need to patch the desktop computers on a regular basis.
7. Server-based computing reduces Total Cost of Ownership [TCO] by as much as 50%.
8. Scalability – New servers and clients can easily be added to the network.
9. Increased availability – It’s easy to make the terminal servers fault tolerant and to perform load balancing. In addition, servers are inherently designed to be more reliable than your average desktop.

What are thin clients?

A thin client is a general term for a device that relies on a server to operate. It provides a display device, keyboard and mouse and basic processing power in order to interact with the server. It does not store any of the data locally – it’s very thin in features and functionality – hence the term ‘thin client’.

A thin client often does not have local storage and requires little processing resources. Thin client hardware can be a converted old PC, a dedicated thin client device, or simply a new low cost PC with a thin client OS installed. The fact that little processing power is needed and that the hardware can be used for longer periods of time (on average 6 years instead of 3 years) means that the capital expenses for desktops is significantly reduced. Most importantly, the overhead costs associated with administration, maintenance, support, security and installation are significantly lower than with a traditional PC.

How does it work?

Figure 1: Server-based Computing

The server-based computing technology revolves around 3 main components:

1. A multi-user operating system that allows multiple users to log on and work concurrently, using applications in separate, protected sessions on a single server. Examples of terminal servers are Microsoft Terminal Services 2000/2003, Citrix Metaframe and 2X TerminalServer for Linux.
2. A thin client, which runs a minimal amount of software, but at least one program that connects to the terminal server. The thin client and the terminal server can be running completely different types of operating systems: For example Linux based thin clients are currently the most popular way to connect to a Windows terminal server! On the thin client there will be a program such as rdesktop (Linux) or Remote Desktop Connection (Windows) to connect to the terminal server.
3. A protocol to allow the terminal server and thin client to communicate and send only the keystrokes, mouse clicks and screen updates across the network. Of course this will be suitably compressed. Popular protocols are RDP (Remote Desktop protocol), ICA and NX.

Server-based computing advantages in a nutshell

Server-based computing is currently considered as the most efficient, flexible and cost-effective solution for application delivery and administration. It boasts the following advantages:

• Reduces desktop hardware investment
• Significantly reduces administration staffing costs
• Significantly reduces desktop maintenance costs
• Virtually removes the need for desktop upgrades
• Removes desktop software application upgrades
• Removes desktop operating system upgrades
• Removes viruses from the desktop
• Reduces training costs
• Reduces bandwidth costs
• Reduces or eliminates the need for remote office servers
• Reduces user downtime while waiting for help desk response
• Reduces system downtime through better redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities
• Applications available to all users anytime and anywhere
• Quick expansion through ease of deployment
• Enables standardization of corporate applications
• Reduces risk of data loss since data is centralized and can be more easily backed up
• End users will experience improved support
• Helps prevent theft of company data
• Reduces/Eliminates installation of non productive software such as games.

To learn more about how server-based computing can help meet your growing IT needs, contact TCS for a free consultation at (877) 884-6827.

A typical server virtualization procedure consists of partitioning the physical server into independent environments. These “contained” environments make sure that the program they run remains efficient and secure. If any one of these partitions encounters an error and crashes, the damage would be restricted to the affected virtual machine. At the same time, the partitioned server can pool the computing resources of all the virtual machines to power server activities. IT professionals use different techniques to accomplish this process, and at the same time monitor results and test new technologies to find the best possible server virtualization method.

If your business has not yet virtualized its servers, you are missing out on a quick and effective way to manage IT costs. Server virtualization is a low-hanging fruit that you can set your eyes on when thinking of other ways to cut back on IT expenses. There is generally little else that businesses can do about the vendor costs of IT hardware. It will be hard to compromise equipment quality because it will ultimately affect efficiency. But you can manage technology and, with the right method, determine how much hardware that your business will require by maximizing your resources.

Before deciding on a server virtualization project, however, make sure that you are aware of the fact that there is no generic approach to streamlining your servers, that there are best practices that are often ignored, and other mistakes that is commonly done in server virtualization.

Do You Make These Mistakes in Running Your Virtual Servers?

One of the most critical problems that a wrong server virtualization procedure can produce is excessive software licensing cost. Each virtual machine that runs a particular application requires a separate license for that application. This will not be a problem if you are using open-source programs. But if you are using enterprise-grade systems, you can be overcharged. Make sure to consider IT management service in your server virtualization project to explore your options.

Another thing that is often overlooked when streamlining server use is capacity planning and management. Careful planning is the foundation of any IT management procedure. It is important to match hardware capabilities with program requirements because this can make sure that the system will not run out of server resources to use. Also, it is important to note that maintaining the reduced number of servers is critical. Just because you have less servers doesn’t mean you have less equipment to maintain. Before you make a head start in your project, get a clear picture of how much resources you will have and how they will be utilized. From this you will know what you need to do in terms of server management to keep their efficiency.

How Server Virtualization Can Save You Even More on IT Costs

Reduced hardware outlay is the most prominent appeal of server virtualization. Because there is less hardware needed, businesses can cut their IT budgets significantly. This advantage of server virtualization makes it perfect for small businesses that require less computing resources, and even for medium-sized businesses that want to optimize what they currently have. Additionally, space requirements are lessened when the number of physical servers is reduced. Server virtualization results in a streamlined datacenter which needs little cooling, as well as low electrical and maintenance costs.

An easily forgotten but still important advantage of server virtualization is its ability to run legacy applications, or older versions of programs. Because it is easy to create different operating system environments in a partitioned server, it is highly convenient to transfer programs and applications from one system to another. With this capability, it will be easy to develop and test processes across various environments and initiate the best course of action on how to keep the system in tip-top shape.

For more information about server virtualization and how it can save your business a considerable amount on IT costs, please visit http://www.tcsvision.com or call 1-877-884-6827.