Dell unveils broadest range of thin client solutions announcements in their history

The new offerings include the Dell Wyse 7040, which becomes Dell’s top of the line thin client, and Wyse ThinLinux, a brand-new thin client-optimized software based on SUSE Linux.

Wyse 7000 Series (Model 7040) Thin Client, codename Potomac.

The Dell Wyse 7040 Thin Client

LAS VEGAS – At the Citrix Synergy event, Dell made its largest single release of virtual workspace solutions ever. Five offerings were announced. These include a new high end thin client and a more cost effective model, two operating systems – the latest version of their virus-resistant ThinOS and a new OS, Wyse ThinLinux – and the new 5.7 version of their Wyse Device Manager management software.

“Typically, our Dell Wyse announcements aren’t this broad, but this is the biggest wave of announcements we’ve announced at any one event,” said Dan O’Farrell, Senior Director, Product Marketing, Dell Cloud Client-Computing. “It really is a broad range of innovation.”

The Wyse 7040 becomes Dell’s new high end thin client product.

“It becomes our most powerful thin client, but also our most secure,” O’Farrell said. “It’s for heavy graphics use, and also meets FIPS security and supports SecureVew. It’s also the first thin client with a fibre interface, because a lot of the Federal clients like to use fibre. It’s also remarkably small in size.”

The Dell Wyse 7040 comes with quad-core 6th generation Intel i5 or i7 processors, will be configured with Windows Embedded Standard 7p at launch, and will be Windows 10 IoT ready.

“Both price and performance will be the top of the line,” O’Farrell said. “There will be an expected premium but pricing is TBD because availability is scheduled for July.”

The other new thin client is the Dell Wyse 3030 LT, based on the current 3030 platform.

“It is more of a lower cost model, where we are trying to optimize the price-performance ratio,” O’Farrell said. “It is designed for more general uses cases, and for a 6-8 year lifecycle. It can be configured with one of two operating systems, Wyse ThinOS 8.3 or Wyse ThinLinux.”

The Wyse 3030 LT thin client has a dual-core Intel Bay Trail 1.6GHz processor and integrated graphics engine, support for two high-resolution displays up to 1920×1200, 60Hz, and multiple connectivity options including wired networking or 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual band Wi-Fi, two Display Ports, and four USB ports, including one USB 3.0 port for high-speed peripherals. It also has support for single sign-on from Imprivata, and VPN.

Wyse ThinOS 8.3 is the latest release of Dell’s most virus-resistant, thin client operating system. The major addition is support for Skype for Business in addition to Lync 2010 and Lync 2013. ThinOS 8.3 also supports a set of updated protocol features from Citrix, VMware, Teradici, and RDP, as well as Windows 10 virtual machines. It also supports Imprivata’s biometric fingerprint authentication solution.

“We think the virus-resistant ThinOS is the most secure endpoint for Skype for Business,” O’Farrell said.

The new Wyse ThinLinux is a new thin client-optimized software based on SUSE Linux.

“This is its first release,” O’Farrell said. “We aren’t calling it 1.0, but that’s what it is. It’s a SUSE Linux distribution that has been further hardened for thin client environments, and further optimized in terms of footprint and security.”

ThinLinux provides a flexible thin client operating environment with broad peripheral support including a variety of monitors, including 4K displays, printers, smart cards, and fingerprint readers. It also supports Citrix Receiver 13.1, VMware View and Amazon Workspace, and unified communication platforms including Skype for Business, Lync 2013 and Lync 2010, as well as single sign-on and VPN.

“ThinLinux behaves a lot like ThinOS, although it doesn’t have a zero attack surface, because it’s still Linux,” O’Farrell stated. “It does have a relatively small attack surface, but ThinLinux is not quite as secure as ThinOS.”

Finally, Dell announced Dell Wyse Device Manager (WDM) 5.7, its solution for centralized management of Dell Wyse thin and zero clients. It is available in a free Workgroup Edition for deployments of up to 10,000 seats, or a paid Enterprise Edition for customers with larger VDI deployments.

“WDM has been around for years, but Version 5.7 adds a beautiful new web-based interface with a simplified user experience which is fun to use and has rich graphics,” O’Farrell said.

While WDM has been hosted on-prem in the past, with this version it is available in the Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure public clouds.

“As more people moved to the cloud, some have asked for this cloud capability,” O’Farrell stated.

All the new offerings will be available in July 2016. Pricing will be made available closer to that date.