Cloud Terminals replace traditional PCs? Idiot Daydream or the time has come

The slogan "Replace PC" is not the slogan that cloud terminals start shouting first, but in recent years, because of the advent of cloud computing, this kind of vendors seem to suddenly see the best hope of replacing PCs, stick become cloud terminal.

Early in the cloud terminal has many names, Oracle CEO Ellison called it NC (network computer), Google called it Chromebook, HP called it thin client, also become zero client. In addition, there are many it vendors are very optimistic about this industry, Dell just last month acquired the network Thinking (Wyse), and domestic manufacturers rising business is also beginning to go out of China, while a group of domestic enterprises such as cloud computer, Sunde, etc. also have joined the ranks of the competition.

Of course, no matter what people call it, the ultimate goal is the same, the simplest configuration to obtain the largest computer capabilities and experience. When the PC instead of minicomputer, more into the ordinary user's desk after many years, people have been thinking, can make terminals more sophisticated, more energy-saving, easier to unified management.

Oracle CEO Ellison is seeing this trend: People's demand for terminals will be less and less, there is no need to buy a PC, to purchase a series of software. This is a huge waste of resources for the enterprise. Ellison saw the trend, but he couldn't dominate the trend, and the timing was premature. There should be a lot of reasons, but the editors think that the main thing is to remove the user experience of NC is not good enough, and the technology is not mature enough for many terminal equipment support is not enough, and its maintenance is different from maintaining the PC.

In addition, the editor secretly thought that the PC is a trend, black computer bag carried in hand, walking on the road, people envy the "it people", so it is difficult to use the cloud terminal to replace the PC. And now, if you carry a black computer bag on the street, it is easy to be misunderstood as "delivery of". More often, we can find more and more cloud terminals in the office, the demand for PCs is falling year by hour, and the following data is evidence (note: The growth of tablets, smartphones and so on is also one of the main factors of PC decline, the editor will read another).

Figure global PC Manufacturer shipments drop (image from Network)

Note: In mid-July, Gartner survey data showed a rare negative growth in global PC shipments in the 2nd quarter. The entire 2nd quarter of the global PC market size of 87.47 million units, a slight decrease of 0.1% in the same period last year, a rare negative growth. Another City regulator IDC survey results also showed the same trend, the 2nd quarter of the global PC shipments 86.73 million units, the year-on-year decrease of 0.1%. Earlier, the agency projected an annual growth rate of 2.1% per cent.

Of course, we can not one-sided believe that the decline of PC shipments must be the end result of the cloud terminal. As Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner analyst, says, one of the factors behind the decline in PC shipments is the global economic uncertainty, and some consumers are turning to other terminals such as tablets and cloud terminals, which are also an incentive for continued weak demand in the PC market.

So, from this level, as long as the cloud terminal experienced enough, the replacement PC is not impossible. However, the so-called cloud terminals, with the background of NC and thin clients, still have great difficulty in replacing PCs in office and home. Below, the editor of the personal experience on the pros and cons of two aspects of the cloud terminal body to replace the PC view.

From a personal point of view, the PC follows us for years, from the office and entertainment habits, we can not live without the PC. Therefore, the recent editor in the interview with the head of a domestic cloud computer company, he said that the cloud terminal can only "replace" the role of the PC in a field, but to "replace" the PC has a long way to go. The editor argues that such a statement is quite accurate.

People have been accustomed to accept the PC, so the current cloud terminal for ordinary users, is the same as the Virtual PC office environment and conditions, but also to save it as a whole investment, but also very convenient management and maintenance later.

But is there anything that the cloud terminal doesn't feel satisfied for the average user? Of course. On the one hand, the office, the staff is not willing to use terminal experience is not very rich computer, in addition to Office, print, mail, browsing the web, it seems that some games, 3D screen is difficult to show out. At that time, many cloud terminals were trying to improve these experiences.

Second, the staff in the office computer also has its own things, save to the server for unified management, naturally enhanced security and reliability, but also increased the good "hacker" attack the risk of this server. At the same time, employee personal information should not be very willing to save to the server side.

Third, the current cloud terminal price is not how cheap, from 2000 yuan to 10,000 yuan price range, plus the soft cost of VDI and so on. For corporate procurement, short-term results can not be seen. You tell him that 100 units can save tens of thousands of dollars a year, he can't see.

Finally, the technology used in the current cloud terminals, there are imperfections. For example, not all compatible with all peripherals, some even insert U disk does not support, many technologies are still under development. As for, the Windows system under the PC has been the market almost 100% of peripheral manufacturers support, cloud terminals in this regard and the PC, but also a city to capture.

Five, the cloud terminal is different from the ordinary PC, to his maintenance general IT staff experience is insufficient. Then, if the problem can only rely on the manufacturer of professional people to solve the problem, the maintenance costs they must consider.

Why cloud terminals are unstoppable

In a recent survey on the internet about the US CIO, 36% of the 150 CIOs surveyed were non-IT professionals. At home, there are more and more CIOs who belong to non-IT professionals. So, CIOs will gradually have more business background, "Three-point technology, seven-point business" will be the future of the CIO change direction. Many non-IT professional CIOs are likely to make easy to maintain, manageable cloud terminals as the main office equipment.

The above editor gave some suggestions to the cloud terminal. Next, the editor talks about the current advantages of cloud terminals.

First, the cloud terminal's biggest bright spot, is saves electricity. It is observed that many of the cloud terminals in the market power consumption is only 5 W, and even lower. Statistics show that 100 units can save more than 80,000 yuan a year. At the same time as security and ease of management, cloud terminals can also reduce IT investment costs for the company. Industry experts say that the average PC basically needs to be eliminated in 3-5 years, and cloud terminals can be used for 8-10 years. At the same time, the output power of the cloud terminal is generally about 5W, and the output power of a PC is about 250W. Data statistics show that the cloud terminal can help enterprises reduce hardware procurement costs more than 50%, save maintenance costs more than 85%, save more than 95% of electricity.

Comparison between cloud terminals and traditional PC power consumption

So, from total cost of ownership (TCO), cloud terminals can not only reduce the initial volume of it procurement investment, but also from the life cycle of IT equipment and the cost of use, can bring extremely high cost savings. Enabling enterprises to truly use core IT investments in core business systems rather than in the maintenance, upgrades, and overheads of the day-to-day peripheral systems has increased investment returns in it.

Second, with the advent of the cloud computing era, many applications and interactions are done on the internet, requiring less and less local devices. There are cloud storage, cloud design mapping, cloud data analysis and so on, no need to do the local high speed calculation. This trend allows cloud terminals to greatly increase the likelihood of widespread popularity.

New employees come to work the process is very simple, just connect to a video terminal, and then the mouse keyboard and network cable, through an account login server, choose your habit of an operating system (including Windows, Linux and Mac OS have) log on to normal use of the computer. How, is not feel the lack of installation of the operating system, download commonly used software, patching and so on a series of operations. Yes, the cloud terminal is so simple!

Third, the cloud terminal equipment is more and more compact, carry more convenient, if you have to provide at home and office. Depicted in the image is a long width of about 10 cm, high about 3 cm small box, it will usually have a video interface, network interface, power interface, USB interface, a number of (including mouse keyboard, u disk and printers, etc.).

Four, safer and easier to manage. The Edison Chen incident has made cloud storage more popular, allowing users to see how insecure data is on PCs. So, on the server, it's always safer than the PC. The main thing is that the company's cloud terminals have been unified management, can be more secure and reliable. As a result of the use of Terminal Services operating mode, the cloud terminal in the operation of the client system at the same time its authority is controlled, to avoid the company's private data is downloaded caused by the leak. At the same time, it maintenance staff can help the server and the terminal operating system and the application patching in time, and fundamentally solves the security problem that the PC encounters.

Five, the company's IT maintenance staff need not around for the company's computer "fire". On the one hand, the company's computer failure, affecting staff efficiency, on the other hand, it maintenance staff busy up and down can only be barely cope with. However, once the company's clients are all concentrated on the Terminal server, on the one hand it maintenance staff can be unified update and maintenance of all terminals, management will be much easier.

The characteristics of the cloud terminal, simple to boil down is that low cost, low power consumption, easy to maintain. Therefore, in many occasions, cloud terminals have been widely used, the common education and training centers, libraries, corporate offices, hotel restaurants, telecommunications business Hall, real estate agencies.

As a result, those who are relatively mobile and have a weaker multimedia experience can use such devices on a large scale. For example, the company's front desk, experience shop, telecom Business Hall, museums, universities and training centers, etc., are required for visitors to query and browse use, multimedia and peripheral requirements are lower.

(Responsible editor: Duqing first)