Now that we’ve moved past the question and answer stage in part I, we get to a brief description of the market players who claim Zero or near Zero status -
| Types | Examples/Costs | Downsides |
| Windows MultiPoint Server Access Point | USB connected access points for Microsoft Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 - | Suffers from all of the Multipoint limitations - |
| Wyse E01 | Not true VDI, just shared hardware solution | |
| HP MultiSeat t100 Thin Client | Only three access point OEMs and one server limits choice | |
| Ncomputing U-170 | No central management tools or console | |
| Plus recurring costs of $24-52 every year, per seat for annual CAL/license renewals | Limited to USB cable length of 5-15 feet | |
| Non-academic OEM licenses can’t joint Active Directory and are limited to 10 users per PC | ||
| Academic licenses do not include support, but have to purchase it | ||
| Dedicated Hypervisor Thin Client | Wyse Xenith – re-purposed Wyse C class thin client that can only download a specialized version of the Citrix Receiver software (rather than standard thin client embedded OS) at boot-up and is only usable with Xen Desktop server | |
| Costs $812 total per seat | ||
| Teradici Chip-based PCoIP Portal/Host | ||
| Teradici hardware embedded in OEM thin clients and host access cards. Some examples - | Designed for remote workstations, not VDI | |
| Wyse P20 | Stores local configuration data and has embedded management consoles | |
| Dell FX100 | Much high hardware cost just to support edge case of remote workstations | |
| Devon IT TC10 | When used for VDI, locked into VMware View for PCoIP protocol support, rather than lower cost vSphere/vCenter edtions | |
| EVGA PD01 | Typically have rPCoIP processor flash storage and up to 1GB RAM | |
| Samsung NC190 | Requires firmware and BIOS updates to be pushed out the the client/portal card | |
| ClearCube I9420/24 Port portal and PC blade | ||
| Costs $760–$900 or more total per seat | ||
| Steaming/Download Client OS Thin Client | Wyse Streaming Manager appliance plus Wyse V00LE thin clients | Steaming appliance/server is another thin client with its own OS, a large hard drive to hold all of the client OS images |
| More complicated and costly than using standard thin clients for VDI | ||
| Costs $1,215 total per seat | ||
| Processor/RAM/BIOS Free VDI | Pano Logic cube – provide bus extension to virtual XP or Windows 7 running on host server.
Total per seat cost, $624 |
As does not have CPU, RAM or firmware runs high quality video in window rather than full screen, depending on load |
| This information is thought to be accurate, but not guaranteed | Total per seat costs above include all required shared server-PC hardware and virtualization infrastructure licenses |
