Thin-client hardware sees strongest growth since 2000

Thin-Client hardware has seen its strongest sales growth since 2000 according to analyst Gartner.

Global shipments of thin-client hardware have risen 38 per cent in 2005 to over 2.2 million units.

North America is the biggest market followed by Europe. Manufacturers Wyse, Neoware and HP capture 70 per cent of the worldwide market share.

Gartner predicts the thin-client computing market will continue to grow over the next several years because of falling thin-client terminal prices, replacement required for compliancy and improvements in thin-client software from Microsoft and Citrix.

The analyst says the deployment of thin-client terminals will grow significantly over the next few years to 2010 driven largely by ASCII-based terminal replacement and PC security issues.

Thin-client terminals account for around 25-30 percent of total thin-client devices with the majority in the form of traditional desktop PCs.

Gartner also predicts market growth in regions less saturated with thin-client terminal sales such as Asia/Pacific.

Microsoft’s introduction of Windows NT Terminal Server Edition led to a market boom in thin-client hardware in 2000 but growth subsequently slowed down.

A thin client is any device configured for the purposes of server-based computing where a company’s applications are located in a shared server rather than each individual PC.

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