Wyse Technologies Inc, the San Jose, California terminal maker, has launched a browser-based network device designed for thin client users who do not want to download the terminal’s character each time it is turned on.
David Mills, Wyse’s UK marketing director, said that until now the company’s Winterm terminals could access information using a browser, but the latter was resident on the network. Now he says, the Winterm 5355SE has no need to access its basic functions from the network. As such, Wyse continues to preach the gospel of thin clients, namely the simpler devices that should act as terminals instead of full-blown PCs. Its objective is to make its products the terminals of choice in what it calls the ‘post-PC era’.
The problem, however, is that while the market has yet to deliver volume orders, Wyse is unable to reduce its prices to take over the segment in which low-end PCs act as terminals. Rather it must evangelize on the other benefits from using thin clients, such as lower maintenance costs, and rely on the growth of what Mills called ‘application service providers’ or ASPs.
This, Mills explained, is the emerging market in which software developers like Oracle Corp or service providers such as German incumbent carrier Deutsche Telekom AG start offering the option of renting applications, putting terminals into their clients’ offices. He sees real opportunities for Wyse products in this context, as its terminals represent less maintenance costs, having less to go wrong on them. That said, he acknowledged that it will take up to two years for the company’s thin clients to move from their current price range (around $800) to the $400-$450 range.
