Back on thin clients for a moment: We have NetPCs and NCs, each promising to reduce network/systems administration costs. Will they really provide the big savings people expect or will they wind up costing more on the network and server side?

Nolle: Stockpile them next to the diskless workstations. Turn them into space heaters or attractive high-tech metallic collages on concrete pedestals in front of headquarters. NCs are replacements for dumb terminals. NetPCs are just hype.

Gibbs: The wise NW reader should tread carefully. There isn't yet the catalog of applications and tools that make for a convincing story and the infrastructure upgrade costs are significant. Plus, most IS shops will have two or three years before they have fully amortized their existing investments so leaping into the fray is probably not an option for more than trial systems.

That said, trials with suitable victims ... er, guinea pigs...er, users will be invaluable. Definitely a market to watch but I wouldn't recommend getting too excited until there's a realistic story with applications and NC/NetPC system (not just unit) pricing.

Heckart: I seem to remember people asking similar questions in the early 90s about the benefits of LANs and whether they'd really save money compared with everyone having their own storage space on the PC, their own printer, etc.

Kearns: There's a big difference between the NetPC and the NC. Its the NC that'll needed bigger servers and bandwidth. But either way, there'll be costs involved - new equipment, new infrastructure, training and support. Thin clients do have a role to play in the corporate network - replacing dumb terminals, if nothing else. Imaginative IT managers will have a broad mix of NCs, Windows Terminals, NetPCs, PCs and workstations on their networks, with each contributing as best they can.

Bradner: I see no real differences between NetPCs, NCs and terminals, and I doubt that there will be any significant cost differences between them. A corporation is not going to save any real money by tossing out old 3270 terminals and putting in NCs instead (except for the repair costs of the 3270). I would also doubt that there will be much savings in moving from|real| PCs to NetPCs or NCs - a whole pile of the costs are common - training, software etc. - and I'd expect that many of the other costs will balance out. There is one substantive difference between distributed PCs and the alternative, and that is the reempowerment of the corporate IS department - traditionally not the most cost-efficient part of the corporation.

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