Although hardware is still a key part of their businesses, top thin-client vendors are working to expand their software expertise.
New Wyse Technology Inc. President and CEO John Kish came to the San Jose, Calif., company about six months ago after more than 15 years at Oracle Corp. and several years with startups. Most of the new executives Kish has brought in have software backgrounds.
"Wyse is a company looking to extend the architecture," Kish said. "What is a thin client really? What they are is software and hardware, not just hardware."
For its part, Neoware Systems Inc. since the beginning of the year has bought four businesses, including two European-based software companies.
Thin clients are designed to offer businesses better management and security than traditional PCs can and at a lower cost. Desktop devices are linked to back-end servers, which hold key components such as hard drives and processors.
Market research company IDC, of Framingham, Mass., expects the thin-client industry to continue to grow from about 1.78 million units shipped last year to 3.4 million by 2007. While thin clients represent about 2 percent of the overall PC market, that share could grow to as much as 10 percent, said Michael Kantrowitz, chairman and CEO of Neoware, in King of Prussia, Pa.
Software will be key to that growth, Wyse and Neoware officials say.
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