Like devout joggers, thin-client technology keeps getting thinner and thinner. Some clients are now so thin they are virtually transparent.
First came thin clients, in which the bulk of data processing is removed from client workstations and placed on central servers, leaving just the operating system and communication routines on the client.
The latest iteration of thin-client architecture is called a zero-client, or zero-download. Zero-clients are not much more than dumb monitors. By definition, they have no operating system, no drivers, no memory, and no central processing unit. In August 2007, Pano Logic unveiled a zero-client half the size of a Rubik's Cube: a box less than 3.5 inches square that connects keyboard, mouse, monitor, audio, and universal serial bus peripherals over an existing 100- Mb/sec local area network to a copy of Windows running elsewhere on a virtualized server. (Virtualization is a method of running multiple independent virtual operating systems on a single server.)
The appeal of all thin-client technologies to radiology is that they exploit server processing power while minimizing processing requirements on client workstations. Data-intensive applications are then run on the server rather than on the client. A true thin client means neither the vendor nor the customer needs to install any software on client devices; data are dynamically downloaded as needed.
With servers using multicore processors and blade technology providing all the horsepower, workstations can now be standard desktop PCs—or even PDAs, BlackBerrys, or Smartphones—rather than dedicated high-end monitors.
Thin-client technologies are key to providing instant access to PACS images and reports to a broad range of clinical users without worrying about physician location or incongruous hardware or software.
“Users can access diagnostic images and perform image processing, such as windowing and 3D, from any location where fast Internet connectivity is present, from any department in the hospital, or from any offsite practice office,” said Henri “Rik” Primo, director of marketing and strategic relationships for Siemens Medical Solutions.
