Citrix thin clients to gain fast graphics

Server-based computing giant to work with GPU makers

Citrix has shown off plans to speed up performance to enable 3D, CAD/CAM and other graphics-intensive tasks in server-based computing environments.

At its iForum event in Edinburgh this week, the firm demonstrated a project dubbed Pictor intended to answer the common criticism that thin-client computing is inappropriate for sophisticated graphics rendering.

Pictor was originally developed for Boeing to use in the design of its 787 Dreamliner plane that involved hundreds of geographically dispersed subcontractors.

Now, however, Citrix wants to use Pictor in generally-available commercial products and is working with GPU makers such as nVidia to accelerate performance.

“Boeing said, ‘we appreciate the benefits [of server-based computing] but we want to take the next step and have the extra usability rather than having projects pushed out to an expensive workstation’,” said Keith Turnbull, Citrix vice-president of product development.

Citrix CEO Mark Templeton said, “It’s about feeding the gloabalisation monster where things can be designed in one place and built in another.”