While the bring your own device movement is strong, many organizations that need tight security insist on providing staff the hardware to do their jobs — or at least a certain number of staff.
For those that need absolute security a thin client which gives IT administrators absolute control over devices accessing the network is a must.
Hewlett-Packard Co.’s latest mobile thin client is a 14-in. laptop that is relatively light at just over 2 kg., yet still has lots of power and battery life.
But its key asset is optional 3G/4G cellular connectivity that will give its users data access almost anywhere in the world.
The company said Tuesday its mt41, which runs the 32-bit Windows Embedded 7 operating system using AMD Elite A4 dual core accelerated processors, starts at US$699. Â It will be available next month.
Earlier this year HP brought out the mt40 with an Intel Celeron B840 CPU.
Walt Jurek, HP’s global thin client marketing manager, said in an interview that mobile thin clients are popular in health care, education and retail sectors as well as for C-level executives.
Globally the thin client market is estimated to be a US$23 billion market. HP [NYSE: HPQ] has several models, including desktops and all-in-ones. However, Jurek acknowledged that 96 per cent of its sales are desktops.
The mt41 comes with remote desktop clients for VMware View, Citrix and Microsoft RDP.
It also includes HP’s Velocity network performance management software.
The base m41 comes with 4GB of memory– expandable t0 8GB — and a 16GB solid state hard drive. It also has an AMD Elite A4 2.5 GHz processor, or an optional 2.7 GHz CPU. In Canada it comes with a dual language keyboard.
For security it comes with a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip, which generates cryptographic keys.
For connectivity a 1 GB Ethernet jack and 802.11n radio are included, along with three USB 3.0 ports, a smart card reader and a docking connector.
The standard battery is a 6-cell Li-Ion unit capable of eight hours under ideal conditions. There’s also a 9-cell batter that can last up to 15 hours.
Options include the HSPA/LTE module that works on the Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. networks, a DVD-ROM and a Webcam.
