March 10th, 2006
Wyse CEO proclaims 'perfect storm' for thin clients
A few weeks ago I interviewed John Kish, CEO of Wyse Technology, which has been pushing the thin client computing model for more than a decade. In the video interview, Kish said that with the increase in network bandwidth and the advent of new virtualization technologies, everything running on a PC can be hosted securely and centrally on a network.
Kish is convinced that thin clients are finally ready for widespread adoption, and will grow from 5% to 10% of corporate desktops over the next three years. Security, manageability and the cost savings, as well as more applications that run on servers, are the drivers of thin client adoption, he said. He expects thin client, stateless device growth to occur first in the bandwidth rich geographies–Asia and Europe, before the U.S.
I also asked Kish about collaborating with Google on a $200 networked computing device (Google Cube) for emerging markets. Kish gave the corporate answer: "We have conversations with Google on a wide variety of areas." He allowed that the two companies have a convenient intersection of corporate goals–Google creates the rich network-and network-enabled applications and Wyse has the expertise in creating networked computing devices. Synergies, but no product announcement forthcoming…
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
