Think thin when moving from one desktop platform to another

I really do appreciate the feedback that I get from you, the reader of this newsletter. In fact, sometimes I think of it as simply an organized way for you to discuss things among yourselves. Two weeks ago, when I mentioned options for migrating from Windows desktops to others, such as the Novell Linux Desktop, a number of you wrote in to tell me that I’d overlooked Citrix terminal servers as one possible tool. So last week, I talked about that option.

That discussion, in turn, fostered new e-mail from some who had considered the Citrix option but found it to be a bit too pricey for their budget. One reader, though, knew of an alternative. Gabriel Pagan pointed me towards relative newcomer 2X Software, a company founded less than 2 years ago.

With offices in Germany, the U.K., the United States, Malta and Cyprus, the small international company offers a number of thin client computing products.

The company offers four products:

* 2X ThinClientServer for Windows/Linux – Converts PCs to thin clients and centrally manages thin client devices from any vendor.

* 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services – Allows Windows applications to be tunneled seamlessly onto remote desktops, saving on administration and support.

* 2X LoadBalancer for Terminal Services/Citrix – Provides load balancing, increased security and redundancy for Terminal Servers and Citrix servers.

* 2X SecureRDP for Windows Terminal Services – Increases security of your servers by using accept/deny Microsoft’s Remote Data Protocol connections by IP, Mac address, etc.

For those price-conscious individuals and organizations, 2X is offering the first 200,000 visitors to its site a free 5-thin client license of 2X ThinClientServer. The offer should help considerably in the migration.

Note that you can also get 5 concurrent licenses of 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services for free, while 2X SecureRDP for Windows Terminal Services is a free download for everyone. Gotta like those licensing terms!

The key features of the 2X ThinClientServer are:

* Converts existing PCs to thin clients.

* Manages users’ connection settings centrally by user, group or department.

* Limits users to Citrix or 2X published applications rather than giving access to a whole desktop.

* Thin client vendor independent: Manages any thin client/PC centrally.

* Supports virtually all thin clients and computer hardware.

If you’re interested, you could download the 6-page white paper called “How it Works” to better your understanding of thin client computing – but it’s not necessary because, well, it just works!