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Xerox economiza 4,3 mi - Gartner

Luiz Veloso
Luiz Veloso

Case de Virtualiza巽達o de Desktops implementado pela Add IT o qual a Xerox economizou 4,3 milh探es segundo a publica巽達o do Gartner em anexo

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Research Publication Date: 19 September 2006 ID Number: G00142876 Case Study: Thin Clients Saved Xerox Brazil More Than $4.3 Million Luis Anavitarte Xerox decided to move to Windows XP worldwide. In Brazil, its old PC systems could not support this operating system, and the estimated "fat client" investment was $4.5 million, with first-year total cost of ownership of $2.8 million, so Xerox decided to go to a thin-client architecture in Brazil. 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner's research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW As part of its worldwide adoption of Windows XP, Xerox's office in Brazil needed to invest substantially in new PC systems to keep and maintain its old "fat client" architecture. Xerox's estimated total investment of $4.5 million included all the outsourced management, migration, software amortization, annual software license fees and hardware maintenance costs. It needed to replace old Compaq Pentium II and Pentium III PCs that could not run effectively on Windows XP. Using thin-client technology allowed Xerox Brazil to dramatically reduce capital and operational costs. It also increased security and manageability and provided a new PC "usage culture" in the company, because Xerox Brazil had formerly had an unmanaged PC architecture. Furthermore, total cost of ownership (TCO) savings was substantial during the first year of the thin-client adoption. Thin-client adoption costs were $1,750,000, with the following breakdown: Hardware expenditure was $950,000. Software expenditure was $550,000 Migration costs were $250, 000, including user's hardware, uploading and downloading into the server and the engineering solution. The capital expenses were $1,500,000 to buy servers, storage, Linux cards and Citrix licenses. Savings on the investment in new hardware were achieved by the in-house conversion of the systems into "dumb" terminals. Citrix licenses represented 25% of the total capital expenses. That amounted to $370,000. Thin-client TCO was as follows: Xerox Brazil's assessment of TCO for each thin client showed a monthly cost of $90, which totaled $1,188,000 for a year. The monthly cost of a fat-client user was $210 for an annual total of $2,772,000. Therefore, the annual TCO thin-client savings estimated by Xerox Brazil were $1,584,000. Overall thin-client capital/operational costs and TCO were $2,938,000. The original and entire Xerox Brazil cost analysis with fat clients was $7,272,000, so Xerox Brazil saved $4,334,000. CASE STUDY Introduction As efficiency and cost reduction are nonstop processes in many organizations, in addition to a more-acute control of "consumer" hardware and software penetration in the workplace, CIOs need to find the most-effective solutions to their PC needs and architectures. Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 2 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
That is what motivated Xerox to adopt thin clients for its entire organization in Brazil, converting old PC systems into dumb terminals. This case is important because Xerox saved substantially in capital and operating expenses and TCO during the first year. At the same time, it started a new "usage culture" in the organization, with the reduction of security threats and enhanced manageability. This was based on an understanding of the value of server-based computing architecture, a technology that is not commonly understood and valued in regions such as Latin America because of lack of information. Gartner's interactions with clients indicate that many large and midsize organizations in this region have little or no knowledge of thin-client architectures. Therefore, the relative benefits and costs of thin clients are not understood. OEMs seldom discuss thin clients because selling fat clients is more profitable. Is Thin-Client Adoption More of a Cultural Change Than a Technology Replacement? Thin-client adoption is a major change for users, and therefore, it has the risk of creating unhappy workers, at least in the short term. Despite proper planning, workers may wonder what happened to some of their data when moving from fat to thin clients. Some workers use their corporate PCs for storing personal information and for interacting with people outside their business environment. All of that changes because dumb terminals can be used only for business purposes. Gartner's opinion is that the risk of making some workers unhappy in the short term is worth taking because the benefits many organizations will gain in efficiency, security and manageability will be substantial. But there is also another fundamental point here viewed from the perspective of the worker. It is a risk worth taking only if job market conditions and the value of the workers dictate that the workers won't be able to leave their jobs, or that you can afford to lose them. The Challenge Xerox in Brazil had the challenge of migrating 1,100 old Pentium II and Pentium III PCs to Windows XP. It also had substantial budget constraints and needed to overcome a fat-client usage culture. Xerox Brazil had an unmanaged client architecture in which users were relatively free to load their systems with personal content. Xerox Brazil was at a crossroad, and it took the correct route. It defined its new PC needs and decided it could not invest in replacing the systems with new ones. Xerox discussed using a server-based computing architecture. That was a major company change, and it represented the additional risk of interrupting the normal flow of business if something did not go well during the technology change process. The server-based applications included Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Outlook, ERP, payroll and Web. Xerox in Brazil, like most enterprises in that country, is an established user of fat clients and it had no direct or indirect experience with other types of PC architectures. Indeed, even though thin clients are starting to grow in popularity in Brazil, Xerox's CIO had no reference of the success or failure for thin clients in Brazil or elsewhere in Latin America. It was unaware of the capabilities of server-based computing and that such an architecture was not functionally limiting. The change was as new to the users, once adopted, as it was for the IT department when the idea was first put on the table for discussion. No one was prepared at that time to deal with it until budget constraints changed company's IT operations. Xerox "Consumerization" Cleaning: An Additional Challenge Part of Xerox Brazil's growing problem, as in many organizations worldwide, was the rapid penetration of "consumer" gadgets in the corporate environment. This is a growing phenomenon Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 3 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
that needs to be addressed by organizations (see "Consumerization of IT: The Gartner Analyst Keynote, Spring 2006"). In this particular case, Xerox needed to work on the thin-client deployment first with its users, who needed to clean their systems and provide IT with an estimate of the storage needed in the server. They found various situations, such as a user who was offered 5GB of storage. The user later requested 10GB and then 14GB. After a careful examination and cleaning of this user's hard drive, it was determined that he had more than 2GB of MP3 files and substantial noncorporate material, such as photographs. It was finally determined that he needed no more than 3GB. Approach Xerox first decided to do the old system cleaning and conversions in-house to keep costs low. Without this in-house capability, the alternative was to outsource the conversion, which would change in the overall costs and savings. Xerox also decided to discuss the process with Citrix. After deciding on a Citrix solution, its next decision was to use Linux in clients because Citrix supports Linux in old systems, considerably extending the life of old PCs. That resulted in double savings for Xerox in fat-PC systems and fat- client operating system (OS) license fees. However, the new architecture required spending $370,000 for Citrix licenses. Xerox Brazil also worked with a Citrix partner in Brazil, AddIT, and installed AddITs Linux card "Add Client." This allowed running of the Citrix client and enabled Xerox workers to access the organization's information and applications from anywhere securely. There is security functionality in Citrix architecture (Secure Gateway) that creates a virtual private network (VPN) connection during the authentication process. Every time a user connects to Xerox Brazil's extranet, it is done through a VPN connection. Xerox also opted for 13 IBM Windows 2000-based servers with the Citrix Presentation Server application (formerly MetaFrame). This application continues to be a choice for most customers with larger and more-demanding implementations, because its features allow for easier administration, application publishing, better printing, and a more-granular management console than Microsoft Terminal Server (see "Branch Environments Pose Issues for Server-Based Computing"). Also, Xerox Brazil was able to meet the corporate requirement to use Windows XP, which solved a potential conflict with worldwide corporate policies. The thin-client servers were loaded with Windows XP. Xerox Brazil had found a solution that saved costs, increased security and manageability, and complied with Xerox's worldwide corporate OS requirement. Results From an economic perspective, the decision for server-based computing saved Xerox Brazil $4,334,000 in capital/operating expenses and TCO during the first year of the life of the thin-client architecture. That amount would have included buying new PCs, service agreements and OS licenses, and sanitizing and disposing of the old machines, as well as much-higher TCO. Xerox Brazil experience also benefited from its in-house conversion capability. Xerox Brazil's client TCO was reduced to $120 per seat a month to a total of $1,584,000. In mature PC markets, indirect costs are higher than in emerging markets, especially with unmanaged traditional PCs, and the TCO of server-based computing (with Windows-based terminals) ranges between 12% and 48% less than for comparable PCs. With well-managed traditional PCs - which included locked-down desktops which was not the case for Xerox Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 4 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
Brazil, that range is between 9% and 12% (see "TCO Comparisons of PCs With Server-Based Computing"). From a technical perspective, results were optimum. Because one single image was adopted for all the thin-client terminals, complexity was substantially reduced. In addition, Xerox was able to deploy thin-client technology with no "casualties" on the road, such as downtime. Critical applications and corporate data were not lost, and the interaction with Xerox partners and channels continued uninterrupted. IT security and overall manageability were enhanced. From a corporate culture perspective, it took Xerox users about four months to get in synchronization with the new architecture, status quo and IT policies. As Xerox did not have a lockdown policy before, this was a difficult cultural aspect, but it was finally accepted by the users. Additional Benefits In addition, savings were also noted when the company moved locations. With fat clients, their outsourcing company fee per seat (uninstalled and reinstalled) would have been $45, but there was no charge for the thin-client terminals. Critical Success Factors It is Gartner's view that the most-critical initial aspect for an IT project of this nature is to have consensus. The Xerox IT team agreed to adopt a thin-client architecture, and Xerox's top management and business units entirely aligned with the idea. This consensus was fundamental for the implementation of the project. Beyond reducing costs, the Xerox IT team in Brazil was also clear about the business need to enhance productivity in the company. It knew, for example, that the downtime costs under its obsolete fat client architecture were high, and that needed to change. The IT team found a business solution through technology adoption. Xerox's IT team was extremely careful in the planning process, which included adapting the old PC systems into thin-client terminals and handling users' reactions to the new status quo that was about to be imposed. As an obvious interested party, Citrix, became a successful part of Xerox's IT migration team during the entire planning and execution process. Despite some initial reactions as user's rights changed, Xerox employees eventually aligned with the idea and collaborated with the IT team. Lessons Learned Xerox Brazil and Citrix, as a partner, demonstrated that converting obsolete PC systems into thin- client devices is, in emerging markets particularly, an economically feasible project when done with careful planning and in-house technical capabilities. But as those old machines age, Xerox may have to replace them with new thin-client devices. This experience demonstrates to organizations in general that thin-client architectures are feasible for more companies than originally thought, such as government offices and specific areas in banks, for example. Considering that Xerox is a technology provider company in which fat clients are the standard, its successful thin-client adoption is encouraging for thin-client vendor-related companies. Furthermore, Server-based computing for the most part ignores mobility, and that may be a downside for many organizations. However, connectivity, which should not be confused with Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 5 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
mobility, is part of the architecture selected by Xerox Brazil. This was a major plus for this company. Because direct costs of hardware and software are higher in emerging markets, conversion of old PCs into thin-client devices in these countries is a valid option; contrarily, in mature markets this may not be a viable alternative because these direct costs are lower and indirect costs (mainly services) are higher. The Xerox experience must be understood in the context of costs of hardware, software and services in Brazil. Therefore, in using this case as a benchmark, organizations in other geographical areas are encouraged to carefully look into these costs and their in-house capabilities. A keen assessment may demonstrate that migration to thin clients will save you money or may be an effort not worth taking. RECOMMENDED READING "Consumerization of IT: The Gartner Analyst Keynote, Spring 2006" "Branch Environments Pose Issues for Server-Based Computing" "TCO Comparisons of PCs With Server-Based Computing" "PC Images Running on Thin-Client Devices" "Client Platforms Spotlight: Evaluating if Server-Based Computing Is Right for You" "Thin-Client Shipments Stage Strongest Growth Since 2000" This research is part of a set of related research pieces. See "Strategic Insights for Emerging PC Markets" for an overview. Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 6 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS Corporate Headquarters 56 Top Gallant Road Stamford, CT 06902-7700 U.S.A. +1 203 964 0096 European Headquarters Tamesis The Glanty Egham Surrey, TW20 9AW UNITED KINGDOM +44 1784 431611 Asia/Pacific Headquarters Gartner Australasia Pty. Ltd. Level 9, 141 Walker Street North Sydney New South Wales 2060 AUSTRALIA +61 2 9459 4600 Japan Headquarters Gartner Japan Ltd. Aobadai Hills, 6F 7-7, Aobadai, 4-chome Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0042 JAPAN +81 3 3481 3670 Latin America Headquarters Gartner do Brazil Av. das Na巽探es Unidas, 12551 9属 andarWorld Trade Center 04578-903S達o Paulo SP BRAZIL +55 11 3443 1509 Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 7 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

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Xerox economiza 4,3 mi - Gartner

  • 1. Research Publication Date: 19 September 2006 ID Number: G00142876 Case Study: Thin Clients Saved Xerox Brazil More Than $4.3 Million Luis Anavitarte Xerox decided to move to Windows XP worldwide. In Brazil, its old PC systems could not support this operating system, and the estimated "fat client" investment was $4.5 million, with first-year total cost of ownership of $2.8 million, so Xerox decided to go to a thin-client architecture in Brazil. 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner's research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.
  • 2. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW As part of its worldwide adoption of Windows XP, Xerox's office in Brazil needed to invest substantially in new PC systems to keep and maintain its old "fat client" architecture. Xerox's estimated total investment of $4.5 million included all the outsourced management, migration, software amortization, annual software license fees and hardware maintenance costs. It needed to replace old Compaq Pentium II and Pentium III PCs that could not run effectively on Windows XP. Using thin-client technology allowed Xerox Brazil to dramatically reduce capital and operational costs. It also increased security and manageability and provided a new PC "usage culture" in the company, because Xerox Brazil had formerly had an unmanaged PC architecture. Furthermore, total cost of ownership (TCO) savings was substantial during the first year of the thin-client adoption. Thin-client adoption costs were $1,750,000, with the following breakdown: Hardware expenditure was $950,000. Software expenditure was $550,000 Migration costs were $250, 000, including user's hardware, uploading and downloading into the server and the engineering solution. The capital expenses were $1,500,000 to buy servers, storage, Linux cards and Citrix licenses. Savings on the investment in new hardware were achieved by the in-house conversion of the systems into "dumb" terminals. Citrix licenses represented 25% of the total capital expenses. That amounted to $370,000. Thin-client TCO was as follows: Xerox Brazil's assessment of TCO for each thin client showed a monthly cost of $90, which totaled $1,188,000 for a year. The monthly cost of a fat-client user was $210 for an annual total of $2,772,000. Therefore, the annual TCO thin-client savings estimated by Xerox Brazil were $1,584,000. Overall thin-client capital/operational costs and TCO were $2,938,000. The original and entire Xerox Brazil cost analysis with fat clients was $7,272,000, so Xerox Brazil saved $4,334,000. CASE STUDY Introduction As efficiency and cost reduction are nonstop processes in many organizations, in addition to a more-acute control of "consumer" hardware and software penetration in the workplace, CIOs need to find the most-effective solutions to their PC needs and architectures. Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 2 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  • 3. That is what motivated Xerox to adopt thin clients for its entire organization in Brazil, converting old PC systems into dumb terminals. This case is important because Xerox saved substantially in capital and operating expenses and TCO during the first year. At the same time, it started a new "usage culture" in the organization, with the reduction of security threats and enhanced manageability. This was based on an understanding of the value of server-based computing architecture, a technology that is not commonly understood and valued in regions such as Latin America because of lack of information. Gartner's interactions with clients indicate that many large and midsize organizations in this region have little or no knowledge of thin-client architectures. Therefore, the relative benefits and costs of thin clients are not understood. OEMs seldom discuss thin clients because selling fat clients is more profitable. Is Thin-Client Adoption More of a Cultural Change Than a Technology Replacement? Thin-client adoption is a major change for users, and therefore, it has the risk of creating unhappy workers, at least in the short term. Despite proper planning, workers may wonder what happened to some of their data when moving from fat to thin clients. Some workers use their corporate PCs for storing personal information and for interacting with people outside their business environment. All of that changes because dumb terminals can be used only for business purposes. Gartner's opinion is that the risk of making some workers unhappy in the short term is worth taking because the benefits many organizations will gain in efficiency, security and manageability will be substantial. But there is also another fundamental point here viewed from the perspective of the worker. It is a risk worth taking only if job market conditions and the value of the workers dictate that the workers won't be able to leave their jobs, or that you can afford to lose them. The Challenge Xerox in Brazil had the challenge of migrating 1,100 old Pentium II and Pentium III PCs to Windows XP. It also had substantial budget constraints and needed to overcome a fat-client usage culture. Xerox Brazil had an unmanaged client architecture in which users were relatively free to load their systems with personal content. Xerox Brazil was at a crossroad, and it took the correct route. It defined its new PC needs and decided it could not invest in replacing the systems with new ones. Xerox discussed using a server-based computing architecture. That was a major company change, and it represented the additional risk of interrupting the normal flow of business if something did not go well during the technology change process. The server-based applications included Windows XP, Microsoft Office, Outlook, ERP, payroll and Web. Xerox in Brazil, like most enterprises in that country, is an established user of fat clients and it had no direct or indirect experience with other types of PC architectures. Indeed, even though thin clients are starting to grow in popularity in Brazil, Xerox's CIO had no reference of the success or failure for thin clients in Brazil or elsewhere in Latin America. It was unaware of the capabilities of server-based computing and that such an architecture was not functionally limiting. The change was as new to the users, once adopted, as it was for the IT department when the idea was first put on the table for discussion. No one was prepared at that time to deal with it until budget constraints changed company's IT operations. Xerox "Consumerization" Cleaning: An Additional Challenge Part of Xerox Brazil's growing problem, as in many organizations worldwide, was the rapid penetration of "consumer" gadgets in the corporate environment. This is a growing phenomenon Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 3 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  • 4. that needs to be addressed by organizations (see "Consumerization of IT: The Gartner Analyst Keynote, Spring 2006"). In this particular case, Xerox needed to work on the thin-client deployment first with its users, who needed to clean their systems and provide IT with an estimate of the storage needed in the server. They found various situations, such as a user who was offered 5GB of storage. The user later requested 10GB and then 14GB. After a careful examination and cleaning of this user's hard drive, it was determined that he had more than 2GB of MP3 files and substantial noncorporate material, such as photographs. It was finally determined that he needed no more than 3GB. Approach Xerox first decided to do the old system cleaning and conversions in-house to keep costs low. Without this in-house capability, the alternative was to outsource the conversion, which would change in the overall costs and savings. Xerox also decided to discuss the process with Citrix. After deciding on a Citrix solution, its next decision was to use Linux in clients because Citrix supports Linux in old systems, considerably extending the life of old PCs. That resulted in double savings for Xerox in fat-PC systems and fat- client operating system (OS) license fees. However, the new architecture required spending $370,000 for Citrix licenses. Xerox Brazil also worked with a Citrix partner in Brazil, AddIT, and installed AddITs Linux card "Add Client." This allowed running of the Citrix client and enabled Xerox workers to access the organization's information and applications from anywhere securely. There is security functionality in Citrix architecture (Secure Gateway) that creates a virtual private network (VPN) connection during the authentication process. Every time a user connects to Xerox Brazil's extranet, it is done through a VPN connection. Xerox also opted for 13 IBM Windows 2000-based servers with the Citrix Presentation Server application (formerly MetaFrame). This application continues to be a choice for most customers with larger and more-demanding implementations, because its features allow for easier administration, application publishing, better printing, and a more-granular management console than Microsoft Terminal Server (see "Branch Environments Pose Issues for Server-Based Computing"). Also, Xerox Brazil was able to meet the corporate requirement to use Windows XP, which solved a potential conflict with worldwide corporate policies. The thin-client servers were loaded with Windows XP. Xerox Brazil had found a solution that saved costs, increased security and manageability, and complied with Xerox's worldwide corporate OS requirement. Results From an economic perspective, the decision for server-based computing saved Xerox Brazil $4,334,000 in capital/operating expenses and TCO during the first year of the life of the thin-client architecture. That amount would have included buying new PCs, service agreements and OS licenses, and sanitizing and disposing of the old machines, as well as much-higher TCO. Xerox Brazil experience also benefited from its in-house conversion capability. Xerox Brazil's client TCO was reduced to $120 per seat a month to a total of $1,584,000. In mature PC markets, indirect costs are higher than in emerging markets, especially with unmanaged traditional PCs, and the TCO of server-based computing (with Windows-based terminals) ranges between 12% and 48% less than for comparable PCs. With well-managed traditional PCs - which included locked-down desktops which was not the case for Xerox Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 4 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  • 5. Brazil, that range is between 9% and 12% (see "TCO Comparisons of PCs With Server-Based Computing"). From a technical perspective, results were optimum. Because one single image was adopted for all the thin-client terminals, complexity was substantially reduced. In addition, Xerox was able to deploy thin-client technology with no "casualties" on the road, such as downtime. Critical applications and corporate data were not lost, and the interaction with Xerox partners and channels continued uninterrupted. IT security and overall manageability were enhanced. From a corporate culture perspective, it took Xerox users about four months to get in synchronization with the new architecture, status quo and IT policies. As Xerox did not have a lockdown policy before, this was a difficult cultural aspect, but it was finally accepted by the users. Additional Benefits In addition, savings were also noted when the company moved locations. With fat clients, their outsourcing company fee per seat (uninstalled and reinstalled) would have been $45, but there was no charge for the thin-client terminals. Critical Success Factors It is Gartner's view that the most-critical initial aspect for an IT project of this nature is to have consensus. The Xerox IT team agreed to adopt a thin-client architecture, and Xerox's top management and business units entirely aligned with the idea. This consensus was fundamental for the implementation of the project. Beyond reducing costs, the Xerox IT team in Brazil was also clear about the business need to enhance productivity in the company. It knew, for example, that the downtime costs under its obsolete fat client architecture were high, and that needed to change. The IT team found a business solution through technology adoption. Xerox's IT team was extremely careful in the planning process, which included adapting the old PC systems into thin-client terminals and handling users' reactions to the new status quo that was about to be imposed. As an obvious interested party, Citrix, became a successful part of Xerox's IT migration team during the entire planning and execution process. Despite some initial reactions as user's rights changed, Xerox employees eventually aligned with the idea and collaborated with the IT team. Lessons Learned Xerox Brazil and Citrix, as a partner, demonstrated that converting obsolete PC systems into thin- client devices is, in emerging markets particularly, an economically feasible project when done with careful planning and in-house technical capabilities. But as those old machines age, Xerox may have to replace them with new thin-client devices. This experience demonstrates to organizations in general that thin-client architectures are feasible for more companies than originally thought, such as government offices and specific areas in banks, for example. Considering that Xerox is a technology provider company in which fat clients are the standard, its successful thin-client adoption is encouraging for thin-client vendor-related companies. Furthermore, Server-based computing for the most part ignores mobility, and that may be a downside for many organizations. However, connectivity, which should not be confused with Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 5 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  • 6. mobility, is part of the architecture selected by Xerox Brazil. This was a major plus for this company. Because direct costs of hardware and software are higher in emerging markets, conversion of old PCs into thin-client devices in these countries is a valid option; contrarily, in mature markets this may not be a viable alternative because these direct costs are lower and indirect costs (mainly services) are higher. The Xerox experience must be understood in the context of costs of hardware, software and services in Brazil. Therefore, in using this case as a benchmark, organizations in other geographical areas are encouraged to carefully look into these costs and their in-house capabilities. A keen assessment may demonstrate that migration to thin clients will save you money or may be an effort not worth taking. RECOMMENDED READING "Consumerization of IT: The Gartner Analyst Keynote, Spring 2006" "Branch Environments Pose Issues for Server-Based Computing" "TCO Comparisons of PCs With Server-Based Computing" "PC Images Running on Thin-Client Devices" "Client Platforms Spotlight: Evaluating if Server-Based Computing Is Right for You" "Thin-Client Shipments Stage Strongest Growth Since 2000" This research is part of a set of related research pieces. See "Strategic Insights for Emerging PC Markets" for an overview. Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 6 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
  • 7. REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS Corporate Headquarters 56 Top Gallant Road Stamford, CT 06902-7700 U.S.A. +1 203 964 0096 European Headquarters Tamesis The Glanty Egham Surrey, TW20 9AW UNITED KINGDOM +44 1784 431611 Asia/Pacific Headquarters Gartner Australasia Pty. Ltd. Level 9, 141 Walker Street North Sydney New South Wales 2060 AUSTRALIA +61 2 9459 4600 Japan Headquarters Gartner Japan Ltd. Aobadai Hills, 6F 7-7, Aobadai, 4-chome Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0042 JAPAN +81 3 3481 3670 Latin America Headquarters Gartner do Brazil Av. das Na巽探es Unidas, 12551 9属 andarWorld Trade Center 04578-903S達o Paulo SP BRAZIL +55 11 3443 1509 Publication Date: 19 September 2006/ID Number: G00142876 Page 7 of 7 息 2006 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.