Is It Time for Diskless PCs?
By Alice LaPlante
Although Oracle, NEC, Wyse and other major vendors have long promoted diskless PCs, the technology has failed to establish a beachhead within enterprise IT shops. This appears to be changing with the release of Microsoft's Vista operating system. Vista offers virtualization features specifically designed to make diskless PCs -- also known as network computers, or "thin clients," because of their significantly reduced cost when compared to traditional PCs -- more attractive.
Still, for a variety of technical and organizational reasons, a complete change of mindset is required before enterprise IT shops will fully accept them. "A lot of users don't like giving up the control of having applications and data stored locally," says Rich Seidner, president of Silicon Valley Virtual Inc., an IT consulting firm based in Woodside, Calif. "Making the shift requires enterprises to put user education and training programs, as well as new technological processes, in place"
Diskless Drawbacks
A diskless PC is exactly what it sounds like: a microcomputer without a dedicated hard drive. Instead, data and applications are stored on remote hard drives, such as those in storage area networks (SANs) kept in the data center. This approach has plusses and minuses. (article continues)
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