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Client Examples

Thin client computing is not new, but until now, a very well kept secret. These real life examples will demonstrate how Profile's clients are taking advantage of the cost savings and 99.99% uptime characteristics of thin client computing.

Multiple Office
Real Estate Firm
Peabody & Smith Realty - Franconia, NH

Configuration at a Glance
 

The real estate business relies heavily on large amounts of information. Like most real estate firms, Peabody & Smith agents owned their own desktop computers. Each computer in the office was a different brand, a different operating system, and had many different versions of software applications.

Even though the computers were networked, the sharing of data and applications was a very difficult task as a result of the different platforms involved. Each computer  had to have its own copy of industry software, had to be updated individually, and when the systems were down, an agent found themselves without the required data until the system could be repaired.

Further, even though a server managed common data, sharing the data was sometimes difficult because of the networking capabilities of the various platforms that were being used. In short, the computers at Peabody & Smith were always an issue.

In the fall of 1999, Peabody & Smith removed every computer from the building save a DELL server and a PC that was used for scanning images and manipulating photos. The PCs were replaced with inexpensive thin client devices. The original devices operated flawlessly until they were replaced with newer, high performance thin clients, OVER 5 YEARS LATER, at 1/2 the cost of the originals (less than $250 per desktop).

Peabody & Smith's server is available to agents 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Since the company went thin, the "system" has only been unavailable for a total of less than 15 hours, excluding scheduled server maintenance time.

Countertop Manufacturing Firm
Aldrich Formica Center - Lower Waterford, VT

Aldrich Formica is one of New England's largest countertop fabricators, and Formica laminate distributors. Every day 5 trucks deliver hundreds of tops all over New England. Each top must be quoted (including drawings) and upon order sent to the shop for fabrication, packed, loaded and then delivered.

Aldrich's computer system tracks each and every top from order to invoice. There system is critical to business operations.

Prior to installing a thing client solution, Aldrich had a typical peer-to-peer network comprised of many different PC's and two servers. There software was developed in-house, and the developer had long since left the company. The software they were running, along with the the typical hardware malfunctions was making their environment very unreliable to say the least. Downtime was costing thousands in productivity and customer satisfaction.

Profile scoured the industry for an off-the-shelf solution. After identifying a software solution, Profile then worked with the application provider to modify the software to fit Aldrich's business to a tee.

While the application was being tested, users had access to the new server and applications from their existing Legacy PCs (click here for a sample configuration). In this fashion users could assist us in converting the software while still running the business on the old applicaiton.

When the software was complete, in one afternoon every PC at the company was replaced with an NCD Thinstar 300 and the next day the company was using the new network. Since that afternoon, the system has been up and running with minimal requirement for on-site maintenance, and has not experienced downtime....at all.

The result, now almost three years later Aldrich's computer system is no longer an issue. Bottom line, it just works, every hour of every day. When their primary application requires updating, it is done just one time, and in minutes every user has the modified application on their screen.

When there is a system or and application issue of any sort, Profile technicians log into the system and can quickly resolve any issues in real-time.

There are even thin clients located on the shop floor and loading dock (harsh conditions) that have been working non-stop since installation.

Since the thin client environment is server-centric, each user login contains only the applications that are required for each user. For example, the loading dock personnel have no access to a Windows desktop at all, when they log on to the system, their loading dock application appears.

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