JISC

Project Final Report is now available

Overview

The use of desktop PC-based (thick client) technology in supporting university IT applications is being challenged by the emergence of thin client systems, claiming to offer a more energy-efficient solution, by virtue of the distribution of workload and resource demands - especially energy.

The aim of the ThinC Efficiency project is to test, through actual measurements, the hypothesis that thin client technology offers energy saving when compared to the more traditional “thick client” desktop PC plus central file and print server facilities.

Aims and objectives

To undertake this project, we aim to monitor the energy use of comparable thin and thick client deployments, while they are being used to support an application set which is delivering a typical range of activities within a university environment.

Specific objective include:

1. The deployment of alternative thin and thick client based systems in comparable use situations;
2. The selection of appropriate power monitoring, measurement and reporting mechanisms;
3. Comparison of published estimates and other data with measured results

Project methodology

The project team comprises a mixture of academic, technical and estates management colleagues. We will draw on academic skills to design the measurement experiments and interpret results; technical knowledge to deploy and maintain the test equipment, while our estates colleagues will advise on and deliver the measurement and data capture facilities.

We will deploy our test equipment in the field, using both thin and thick clients (at different times and locations) to support “typical” administrative operations, therefore an additional feature of our work will be to explore the user response to changes in technology and the different working practices entailed.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

Through research we will identify candidate thin client systems; appropriate measurement methodologies and realistic application sets. We will then report real data on the comparative costs of thin and thick client systems in typical university environments.

The outcome will be of great importance in providing reliable, accurate data relating to thin client performance in this environment – knowledge which is currently in short supply. It will also provide research into the most appropriate ways to measure and monitor the behaviour of such systems, and identify the characteristics and requirements for energy monitoring systems most appropriate for long-term deployment.

Technology/Standards used

One of our initial project objectives is to review and determine appropriate forms of technology to be used in our project. “Appropriate” in this context means that the technology needs to be representative of the types of system likely to be used; that the power measurement techniques are accurate and reliable, and that the overall experiment is repeatable.

 We will also explore the range of possible measurement and data reporting techniques in order to contribute to the development of standard forms of measurement and reporting.