Print
Discuss
Send to friend
The Cranberry SC20 Smart Client attempts to combine the appliance-like management benefits of thin client terminals while still offering the flexibility of a full Windows desktop. With an embedded management agent, the device offers administrators an impressive level of control over its operation, but its specification may not be high enough for much beyond productivity tasks, while its price is not far below that of many modern business PCs.
Available since December 2007, the SC20 is a compact device that blends the features of thin client and PC to essentially create a highly locked-down Windows client. It is designed to work with the Wisdom management suite from RES Software, which enables IT staff to deploy applications with ease and control the behaviour of SC20 units company-wide from a single location. There is no extra charge for the RES Wisdom server software when purchased with Cranberry’s SC20 devices.
In tests, we found we could easily deploy Windows applications across the network to our SC20 unit, where they showed up on the desktop within seconds and were available to run immediately. We were also able to apply remote commands to the SC20, such as installing applications or scheduling a shut down. The latter could enable firms to save energy by powering off all desktops at night.
The SC20 itself is tiny - about the same size as an external hard drive for a standard PC - and is encased in a sturdy aluminium enclosure. It has a minimal set of ports: four USB ports and audio sockets at the front, and VGA and network connections to the rear.
The unit runs a modified version of Windows XP Embedded (XPE), a platform more commonly seen in high-end thin clients. However, the SC20 boots up from a 40GB hard drive and can store and run standard Windows applications locally, just like a PC. XPE will also be supported by Microsoft until 2016, long after the more mainstream XP Professional is retired.
One XPE feature, the Enhanced Write Filter (EWF), protects the operating system and applications against alteration by malware or by an unauthorised user action. This is turned off by default, but if enabled using the management console, the SC20 will boot from its protected image each time, losing any changes made during the previous session.
Each SC20 has an embedded agent for RES Wisdom, which Cranberry envisions customers will use as the preferred tool to manage a fleet of SC20 devices. Alternatively, it is possible to join Smart Clients to a corporate domain and manage them using Active Directory, but Cranberry maintains that RES Wisdom makes configuration and maintenance simpler. It can also manage standard Windows PCs.
We found that RES Wisdom did indeed make it straightforward to apply changes remotely to the SC20 in our test setup. This is due to the application’s point-and-click approach to putting together processes that can then be applied to either an individual client, or to groups of devices, or every client on the network. We could remotely power on the SC20, install an application, then power off again, with just a few clicks.
RES Wisdom ships with a set of pre-defined tasks, such as invoking the Windows Installer or performing a file operation on the client. These are easily assembled into modules designed to carry out an entire process, such as remotely deploying an application or applying a patch.
It should be noted that while RES Wisdom provides deployment functionality, it does not provide the tools to package up applications for this purpose. Instead, customers must use third-party software to build Windows Installer .MSI files or some alternative method of packaging for network delivery.
For our tests, Cranberry reseller CDG supplied us with RES Wisdom ready installed in a Windows Server 2003 virtual machine. We operated this using VMware Server on a HP xw4600 workstation, loaned to IT Week Labs for testing purposes.
We were also supplied with some sample applications, including the FireFox
web browser and OpenOffice.org productivity suite that had been packaged up
using
Thinstall
to produce one self-contained executable file for each application. This
approach means that an application can be deployed by adding that single file to
the
SC20 desktop.
While RES Wisdom can simplify application deployment, it needs a certain amount of infrastructure of its own. The console can be run from a workstation with Windows XP SP2, but a more likely host will be a server running Windows 2000 or 2003. The same machine also hosts the central repository datastore, which requires Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 9i, IBM DB2 8.1 or MySQL 5.0.
A third component, the Dispatcher, is needed to actually deliver the applications across the network. This can also be run from the same system as the console and datastore, but to scale up to larger installations, a Dispatcher will typically be required at each company site. The Dispatcher can be deployed remotely from the console, provided the intended host is already managed by RES Wisdom.
Because the Cranberry SC20 has an embedded RES Wisdom agent, each device automatically looks for the management console when it boots, and at regular intervals thereafter. This can make provisioning of new systems simple, as each new SC20 is automatically added to the management database when it is connected to the network and powered on. From the console, administrators can set actions to be performed when a device first registers, such as deploying a basic set of applications, eliminating the need for support staff to manually provision new systems.
While the SC20 is easy to deploy and manage, performance may be a concern for potential enterprise buyers. The device is built around an AMD Geode LX800, a system-on-a-chip processor design clocked at 500MHz. This is far below the speed of current PC chips, although Cranberry asserts that the build of Windows on the SC20 has been streamlined so that performance is comparable to a 1.2GHz PC.
Standard memory is 512MB, and our review unit with 1GB of memory seemed to handle applications such as OpenOffice.org without difficulty. We also tried out various web-based applications such as IBM’s Lotus iNotes and Google Docs, and found the experience comparable with using a PC. We would therefore gauge that the SC20 has ample horsepower for most office applications.
One advantage of the SC20’s design is that it consumes less than 10W of energy when running, which we confirmed using a plug-in mains wattage and current meter. Many standard PC designs can easily top 200W, so a switch to Smart Clients could help firms save on their energy bills.
See also:
A new device aims to offer the size and energy benefits of thin clients while retaining the flexibility of Windows PCs 07 Dec 2007
Vendor price pressures could benefit corporate IT buyers, say experts 26 Jul 2007
Dell's free Client Manager Suite for hardware management replaces three pieces of software 04 Dec 2006All Client Tags: Hardware
del.icio.us
Digg this
reddit!
