University of Maryland, School of Agriculture

Pano Logic Zero Client Case Study

The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) at the University of Maryland is a world-class academic unit specializing in the broad issues of the economics of agricultural, environmental and natural resources.  The Department is comprised of approximately 25 faculty, 60 graduate students and 60 undergraduate students.

Faculty expertise and research interest cover a broad spectrum from theoretical investigations of preferences over uncertain events to extension publications on land use and water quality.  A unique feature of the Department is the close collaboration between extension and research.  This collaboration challenges researchers to provide meaningful analysis and provides extension faculty rigorous intellectual frameworks for the extension of research to public and private sectors. Specialty areas include:

• Agricultural Policy
• Coastal and Marine Resources
• Commodity Marketing
• Farm and Financial Management
• International Extension
• Land Use and Farmland Preservation
• Linking Agriculture, Natural Resources, and the Environment
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Water Quality

System Configuration

AREC has a recently renovated 25 seat computer lab designated for experimental economics.

The lab is configured with 25 Panologic zero client devices, which connect to virtual desktops.

AREC also has a second lab for graduates students with 18 stations, configured as above, using the same back end infrastructure.

Currently another 10 Panos are in use by faculty and staff members.

All of the virtual desktop images are configured as follows:

• Microsoft Windows XP (with 1GB of memory)
• Windows XP Images include the following applications:
  • Microsoft’s  Office 2007
  • MathWork’s Matlab
  • Wolfram Research’s Mathematica
  • SAS Statistics
  • Maplesoft Math Software
  • ARCInfo Geographic Information System
  • Z-Tree File Manager.

User Experience

• There were no complaints from students about the PCs being replaced by Panos as the user experience was virtually the same.
• Enhanced performance
  • 72 minutes less processing time for a … application
• 95% reduction in power requirements compared to a desktop PC
  • Based on measurements taken with Kill-A-Watt meters for 5 Dell GX270 Optiplex PCs vs. 5 Panos in the lab with similar usage; all powered on 24×7:
    • After 172 hours: 5 PCs used 77.09 KWh; the 5 Panos used 4.82 KWh.
• Reduced cooling requirements
  • Students complained that the lab was too cold. Since there were no PCs heating the lab, had to raise the thermostat

About the Pano Virtual Desktop Solution

The Pano Virtual Desktop Solution includes the hardware clients and software components required to turn standard virtual infrastructure into a purpose-build virtual desktop solution. The key components of the solution are the:

• Pano Device – Designed by an award-winning industrial design firm, the Pano device is a zero client – no memory, no operating system, no drivers, no software and no moving parts. The Pano device connects keyboard, mouse, display, audio and USB peripherals over an existing IP network to an instance of Windows XP or Vista running on a virtualized server. Pano is power friendly, consuming only 3% of the energy consumed by a traditional desktop computer.

• Pano Management Server – A centralized service and web-based management interface which enables administrators to manage the entire virtual desktop installation by integrating with existing directory services and virtual infrastructure managers.

• Pano Desktop Service – A lightweight service residing within each desktop virtual machine links peripherals attached to the Pano to the unmodified Windows drivers residing in the virtual machine. This design guarantees that all existing Windows drivers will work without modification.

Is Your Zero Client For Real?

Richard E. Esposito, D.E.
Chief Scientist

ProSync Technology Group, LLC

In the October 14, 1985 issue of ComputerWorld, Dr. Edgar Codd shook the foundations of the relational database world with his article: “Is Your DBMS Really Relational?” and he shed light on the then top-selling Cullinet’s IDMS/R, as well as others, as not really being relational.

Today, everyone wants to have Zero Client and once again, unsubstantiated claims abound among vendors. So, borrowing from history, I herewith present 12 rules for Zero Clients:

Rule 0: For any thin client device that is advertised as, or claimed to be, a Zero Client, that device must be able to function without the aid of conventional local computing resources.

Rule 1: Low Power

The Energy of Star specification for desktop computers went into effect 20 July 2007.  Use of the logo requires certain levels of efficiency to be attained by a desktop.   While this is certainly a step in the right direction toward greening our planet, it does not mandate consumption of less than 5w power under all circumstances, which is required to qualify under this rule as a Zero Client.

Rule2: Firmware-free

Firmware is the bane of IT departments. Upgrading it generally requires a visit to each desktop and new firmware has the potential of breaking operating systems. It can also invoke Digital Rights Management (DRM) issues. It can break applications and drivers. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client must be firmware free.

Rule 3: Fan-free

Fans consume power. They introduce noise. They are mechanical devices that wear out. They can make contaminants airborne.  This can be a real problem in medical and lab environments. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client must be fan free

Rule 4: Local Application Processing

When you introduce a local application processing capability, eventually a user will want a local application whose requirements exceed the available local computational RAM or CPU. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client is only permitted non-computational RAM (e.g., video buffering) and local intelligence to instantiate communications.

Rule 5: Resource Sharing

Each user session is permitted to share server resources by being assigned to a Virtual Machine (VM).  It is not permitted to share resources via local Operating System (OS) sessions. Session sharing can break applications and drivers and, in some cases, might require special high-cost multi-user versions in addition to user licenses to use the software. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client is only permitted to share computer resources by instantiating virtual machines.

Rule 6: Full IP connectivity

Connectivity must be achievable using standard IP protocols using industry standard switches and routers. Clients that do not use IP can lock you into proprietary vendor-specific protocols. Non-compliance with industry-standard switches and routers can impose undesirable distance limits between clients and servers. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client is only permitted to connect to a server usinin standard IP protocols.

Rule 7: No local OS

A local Operating System (OS) implies local support. This support could involve upgrades to either firmware or even a local hard drive. Whether it’s Windows CE, Windows XPe, or a Linux variant, communications between non-homogeneous operating systems can always introduce incompatibilities and break applications and drivers. And, then there are always new operating system introductions (E.g., an embedded version of Vista or even Windows 7?); will compliance require a fork-lift upgrade? As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client is not permitted to have a resident operating system instance.

Rule 8: USB connectivity

A Zero Client cannot imply zero versatility.  Local peripherals must be supported and the most popular peripheral interface today is Universal Serial Bus (USB), hence that is the interface of choice. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client must support standard USB peripherals including printers, scanners, storage devices, etc.

Rule 9: Configuration-free LRU swap-out

A Zero Client implies near zero maintenance at a user’s desktop. As a consequence, to qualify under this rule, a Zero Client must require no configuration at a user’s desk other than disconnecting and reconnecting cables.

Rule 10: VM-resident OS w/o Mods

A Zero Client must have zero incompatibilities with PC software so long as it does not require specialized hardware. To ensure software compatibility, a Zero Client must directly communicate with a Virtual Machine (VM) resident unmodified OS. The only special software allowed in a VM is the software that explicitly enables communication between the OS and the Zero-Client.

Rule 11: No General Purpose Hardware

A Zero Client cannot contain general purpose hardware (E.g., CPU, System RAM, Flash Memory, Hard Drive, etc.) The presence of general purpose hardware can introduce incompatibilities with future operating system or application software installations / upgrades potentially shortening the client’s life cycle.

Rule 12: VM standards Compliant

A Zero-Client must not depend on a vendor proprietary VM environment. It must be compatible with at least one of the de facto industry standard VM environments (Currently these are VMware, Microsoft’s Hyper-V, and Citrix’s Xen.)

References:

1. Codd’s 12 rules – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codd’s_12_rules

1. US Government Energy Star site – http://www.energystar.gov

1. The Zero Client Solution by Loraine Lawson – http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/emt/?p=202

1. Digital Rights Management and Copy Protection Schemes http://www.eff.org/issues/drm

1. Serious clinical computing problems in the worst of places: an ICU – http://www.ischool.drexel.edu/faculty/ssilverstein/failurecases/?loc=cases&sloc=clinical%20computing%20problems%20in%20ICU

1. Firmware Maintenance -http://www.embedded.com/columns/embeddedpulse/197007089

1. Desktop virtualization: Making PCs manageable – http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Networking+and+Internet&articleId=9003227&taxonomyId=16

1. Universal Serial Bus (USB) – http://www.intel.com/technology/usb/index.htm