BOSaNOVA Launches Four Thin Clients
January 23, 2007 Alex Woodie
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Thin client news has been arriving fast and furious from BOSaNOVA lately, and the pattern continued during the last couple weeks, as the Phoenix, Arizona, company announced four new thin clients–including two additions to its slim and sleek “Rabbit” line of thin client devices, and two members of its new 1300 Series line of high performance terminals. Leading things off are the two new Rabbit terminals, the RBT-802 and the RBT-820, which run Linux and Windows operating systems, respectively. These devices are similar in many ways. They feature nearly identical hardware, including AMD LX 800 processors, up to 128 MB of RAM, and integrated 802.11 wireless support. They both weigh in at a feather-weight 14 ounces, and carry identical price tags–$445 (or so BOSaNOVA, as the manufacturer, would suggest). But a look under the hood reveals some key differences in these two products. The RBT-802, which is based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, can support up to eight 5250, 3270, Wyse 60, Xterm R6, VT100, VT220, or VT400 sessions. By contrast, the RBT-820, which uses Windows CE.NET version 5, can only support four simultaneous sessions. Rounding out the Windows machine’s list of pre-loaded software are IE version 6, Microsoft Office viewers, support for Citrix ICA, support for secure gateways, VNC shadowing, and support for the BOSmanager and ThinPrint. The Linux device supports all of these, too, but replaces IE with Mozilla‘s Firefox Web browser, and also includes Mozilla’s Thunderbird e-mail client. “These new additions to our RBT Series fill a niche for those companies looking for a high speed, compact thin client that is complete with a browser, internal wireless, and exceptional 5250 performance,” says Martin Pladgeman, president of BOSaNOVA. “We are continually adding products to our thin client line so that we can always provide the best thin client options for our customers.” No kidding. Barely before the ink dried on the Rabbit announcement, BOSaNOVA was at it again, launching its new 1300 line of high end thin clients, including the Linux-based LTC-1300 and the Windows-based XTC-1300, which replace the company’s previous high end 1000 line of devices. Both the LTC-1300 and the XTC-1300 use a powerful 1.3 GHz Via processor, providing a significant power boost over the 1000 line of devices, which came equipped with 1.0 GHz Via processors when they were launched more than a year and a half ago. In addition to the power surge, the new 1300 line comes equipped with lots of memory, and room for more. While the LTX-1300 ships with just a 128 MB of RAM and a 256 MB disk on module (DOM) storage chip, it can be expanded to support 1GB of memory and 4GB of storage. The XTC-1300 ships with more memory than the LTC-1300-512 MB standard RAM and 512 MB standard DOM–to handle Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2 (XPe SP2), and has similar expansion capabilities as its Linux-based cousin. On the LTC-1300, which has a $575 price tag, all that processing power and memory goes to use running applications. The device comes with all of the applications you’ll find on the RBT-802, in addition to the OpenOffice suite of productivity apps, which includes a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation viewer. Like the RBT-802, the LTC-1300 can support up to eight terminal emulation sessions simultaneously. Power users who require more terminal sessions should check out the XTC-1300, which supports up to 32 sessions at the same time, and which carries a $675 price tag. Other preloaded programs on the XTC-1300 include a full array of Java Virtual Machines (from Microsoft and Sun Microsystems), Microsoft Outlook Express, Adobe Shockwave Player, a Macromedia Flash player, Citrix Access Client, Citrix Password Manager, and a version of CA‘s eTrust antivirus software. BOSaNOVA also gives users the option to have IBM’s Lotus Notes or iSeries Access software installed on the XTC-1300. For more information on BOSaNOVA’s line of thin clients, see www.bosanova.net.
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