Chapter 14 - Thin-Client and Energy Efficiency

Abstract

This chapter is based on the project Does “Thin Client” Mean “Energy Efficient”? funded under the JISC Greening information and communication technology (ICT) initiative. This project was devised to conduct actual measurements in use in a typical university environment. We identified a test area that was a mixed administrative and academic office location that supported a range of users, and we made a direct replacement of the current thick-client systems with thin-client equivalents; in addition, we exchanged a number of PCs operating in thin- and thick-client mode with devices specifically branded as “low-power” PCs and measured their power requirements in both thin and thick modes. We measured the energy consumption at each desktop for the duration of our experiments and measured the energy draw of the server designated to support the thin-client setup, giving us the opportunity to determine the power per user of each technology. Our results showed a significant difference in power use among the various candidate technologies and that a configuration of low-power PC in thick-client mode returned the lowest power use during our study. We were also aware of other factors surrounding the change such as the technical issues of implementation and management as well as the nontechnical or human factors of acceptance and use; all are reported in this chapter. Finally, our project was necessarily limited to a set of experiments carried out in a particular situation; therefore, we use estimation methods to draw wider conclusions and make general observations that should allow others to select appropriate thick- or thin-client solutions for their situations.