Fujitsu said on Thursday it has begun shipping its most energy-efficient thin client, which uses just 29 watts at full load.
The Futro S100 thin client and monitor uses 66 percent less electricity than a comparable conventional low-energy PC and is silent in use, according to Fujitsu. The fanless device also uses a 'backpack' design where the desktop unit can be mounted behind a monitor to potentially save desk space.
Fujitsu is marketing the Futro S100 as suitable for call centres in the financial services sector, schools and other large organisations, which will put the company up against stiff competition from thin-client vendors such as Wyse and Cranberry, as well as RM, which specialises in producing low-energy PCs for the education sector.
"I think what Fujitsu has in its favour is that the... cost savings of running 5,000 Futros at 29 watts [compared with] 5,000 low-energy PCs at up to 80 watts [are] potentially enormous," said Clive Longbottom, a research director with Quocirca.
Fujitsu's services business puts it in a good position to persuade organisations to switch to thin clients such as the Futro for single function employees, Longbottom believes.
"People don't just buy into thin client and throw out their infrastructure, but with the services angle, there's a strong opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of thin client not just in terms of energy but also in terms of support and cost of ownership," he said.
The Futro S100 is compatible with a range of server-client infrastructures, including those based on Linux eLux and Windows CE. The device uses Via's Eden 500 and VX800 processors, and supports 1GB of DDR2 memory. The pricing for the thin clients has not been disclosed.
