Army Thin Clients

Last month I posted news about the Navy's adoption of real thin client systems on some of their ships. Last year I said the following:

"We have the Air Force barking up the wrong tree with new Microsoft purchases. The Navy and Marine Corps are stuck with a disfunctional NMCI. I guess this leaves the Army to embark on a bold strategy that leaves the broken enterprise desktop computing model behind? Stay tuned."

It looks like I was right about the Army. This morning I read Army plans to use thin-client systems at FCW.

The Army intends to streamline information technology at its bases by using thin-client systems, which do not require a computer at every worker’s desk...

The Army intends to install thin-client computers as it restructures and consolidates bases...

“The whole Army is behind this,” Winkler [director of the Army’s Governance, Acquisition and Chief Knowledge Office] told industry executives at a conference on BRAC’s impact. The IT Association of America sponsored the event.

Winkler said Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, the Army’s chief information officer, briefed the secretary of the Army about the plan yesterday, and Winkler quoted Boutelle as saying, “We’re going to be Draconian about it.”

“I see no reason why you can’t have thin clients in all of the services,” Winkler said. “I see no reason why [the Defense Department] shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon.”

The only question is what sort of thin clients will be used. I will be astounded if the Army turns to a real thin client like Sun's Sun Ray 170.