Thin clients in the automotive industry

Posted by igelclient on July 31st, 2015

The issue of sustainability plays an important role in the automotive industry too. In addition to producing efficient vehicles and using environmentally friendly production processes, companies are also trying to conserve IT resources. This is possible with the help of centralization, cloud computing and thin clients (zero clients) as energy and cost-efficient end devices.

Centralizing IT and access via thin clients

In order to conserve resources, more and more companies are turning their backs on the PC as an office work device. Thin clients that have less hardware, no moving parts such as fans or hard drives and thus break down less often are being used instead. Via the thin clients, users access a computer center in which the Windows desktops and applications run in virtualized form as part of a private cloud. Thanks to the overall concept of centralized IT and thin clients, applications and desktops can be provided as an internal service much more efficiently than they could with the previous set-up involving hundreds or thousands of PCs with locally managed applications.

Remote management of thin clients

Workstations with thin clients including the resources required for operation in the computer center use only half as much electricity as a classic PC. The environmental analysis including the CO₂ emissions resulting from operation is therefore very positive too. The production, transport and packaging of space-saving thin clients also have less of an environmental impact. The biggest financial benefit of thin clients for users is achieved through remote management. All thin clients within the site network can be remote administered and managed from a single point – for example via the Universal Management Suite (UMS) from IGEL Technology, the German market leader for thin clients, zero clients and software thin clients.

Thin clients in production

According to an economic feasibility study carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, remote management can reduce costs by up to 70 percent compared to an unmanaged PC. And the more thin clients there are, the bigger the savings. The fact that centralized management of thin clients can be used even for workstations outside management, for example in production and logistics, is particularly beneficial. In light of this trend, manufacturers of stationary and mobile industrial PC such as Advantech-DLoG or FORSIS are also offering their solutions with IGEL Linux, one of the world's leading thin client operating systems developed by IGEL.

Conclusion

As in many other sectors, thin clients generate particular added value in the automotive industry, which is reflected in lower investment and operating costs as well as a more responsible use of resources.

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