* HP’s latest thin clients represent progress toward bladed desktop environment
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HP last week made further steps toward bladed desktop computers with the announcement of two new thin-client computers that use Transmeta’s low-power Crusoe chipset.
The new client computers, precursors to desktop blade technology for HP, are managed, configured and deployed with software from Altiris. They run Microsoft’s Windows CE.Net operating system with integrated Citrix Metaframe technology, which lets them attach to servers on a network.
They can operate in Windows NT, 2000 Server and Advanced Server environments.
The t5300 and t5500 join the t5700, which HP introduced in May.
Thin-client computers are distinguished from their PC counterparts in that the applications they access run on a centralized server, rather than on the PC itself. HP’s thin clients connect to the network with an integrated 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet adapter.
The thin clients will compete with systems from companies like Wyse Technology and Neoware. Future bladed desktops will compete with those from ClearCube and Avocent.
The t5300 uses a 533-MHz Crusoe TM5600 processor. It has four USB ports and as much as 64M bytes of memory. The t5500 uses a Crusoe processor running at 733 MHz and has 128M bytes of memory and four USB ports.
IDC says that thin-client technology will grow to 3 million units by 2007 from 1.5 million units this year.
The t5300 starts at $350; the t5500 is $380. Both are available now.
