Thin client computing

Adopting a thin client computing architecture concentrates recovery processes on a few key servers, thus reducing overall workload and numbers of personnel involved. 

One other significant benefit of this technology worth mentioning is its ability to provide Web access to key applications. The Citrix MetaFrame product is a thin-client software product that extends the capabilities of server-based computing. It creates a client in the form of a Microsoft Active X control, allowing its nsers to run their Windows applications from within a standard web browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape. 

A three-tiered architecture includes one more node between the client and the database server—the middle tier. In a three-tiered architecture, business logic is offloaded from the client and the database server nodes to the middle tier. In fact, you can choose to further distribute the business logic among more than one middle tier node and still call it a three-tiered (or K-tiered) architecture because the idea is similar. Note that the tiers do not have to be physically separated. You can have both the middle tier server and the database server collocated on the same physical computer but running in different processes with separate memory spaces. Modem hardware architecture can partition a single hardware box into multiple virtually separate computers or domains. Typically, a three-tiered architecture supports a Web-based thin client although it can also work with a rich client. 

Networks are so fast nowadays that 3D volume rendering can be distributed from a central powerful computer to simple (and thus low cost) viewing stations, called thin clients (a.o. Terarecon Aquarius, Fig. 9.2). A powerful dedicated graphics board (in this case the VolumePro 1000) with dedicated hardware runs several 3D viewing applications simultaneously, and is remotely controlled by the... 

Thick or Thin Ciient. A thick client architecture is one in which a significant amount of computing is done on the user s workstation. This is appropriate for user-interface-inten-... 

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