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.
