Client Virtualization Stage 1 - Leap

In the initial stages of the Thin client market, the basic challenge which we faced were the cost of the total solution. The base Thinclients itself was costing little higher than that of a desktop..then we need to add the cost of the servers and the OS licenses etc. The Thinclients came with an entry level processor (National Geode) and little amount of Flash memory and memory to support.. This was a factor which was limiting the Thinclient growth..

At this point of time VXL along with VIA was quietly working on a big opportunity with an innovative solution.. The opportunity was really big and the solution was very innovative.. The solution designed by VXL for LIC to address their branch computerization requirements using Embedded Linux Thinclients..

The solution reduced the need for a Terminal server at every location and the using VIA processor instead of National Geode helped increase the local performance and reduce the cost.. Suddenly there we have one customer adapting 10k Thinclients in one go..

The Thinclient locally had a full fledged browser and local printer drivers embedded locally.. using this the users can access their forms and access the core insurance application and if any printing can be given locally..

The first year of 10k units orders went to VXL. The second year the order went to HCL.. this started the new era for Thinclients in the Indian market..This was not adapted further because of some practical challenges on the field.. so after that the Linux Embedded based solutions were not taken up much.. (Until another innovative solution came after 3 years..)..

In the same year HCL designed a solution based on Windows Embedded XP for the Punjab National Bank's core banking branches.. this solution can be termed as "Application specific Terminals".. and in the year 2003-04 PNB formally came out with an RFP for Thinclients..this is again a major mile stone on the Thinclients business..and after this Windows Embedded Thinclients became a mainstream..

The innovative solution helped to reduce the over all initial cost of the solution and also helped the customer to save on Electricity and management cost as well..

I am personally happy as i was part of the team which designed the solution at HCL (from R&D Mr. Ramaiah / Mr. Subbiah / Mr. R. Muthu Kumar) and leading from the field along with the Sales team (Mr. Avinash / Mr. Sarabjit Bhatia) and happy that the same solution has become a benchmark in the BFSI and being adapted by many other Banks like BOI, BOB, OBC, SBI etc.. now it is 8th year anniversary.. :-) :-)

Starting from the year 2003 - many banks have started adapting the Thinclient solution for their core banking branches.. The banks were using core banking solution from Infosys (Finacle), TCS and few other solutions were there..The volumes started growing as the banks were more and more migrating their branches to core banking and the Thinclient solution was more stable in the banking environment..

The next phase was more challenging as the volumes started butPublish Post become stagnant as it was limited only to BFSI and the requirements of the Federal Government projects and that of ITES (two segments which were buying more computers) could not be addressed because of the over cost of the solution.. then came the innovative solution and we can say that is the start of the third phase..will post this in my next post..