Cloud Clients

Cloud Clients 


A cloud client consists of computer hardware and/or software that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or that is specifically designed for delivery of cloud services and that, in either case, is essentially useless without it. Examples include some computers, phones and other devices, operating systems and browsers.



Cloud Clients- Image Source 


Cloud Clients is the term used to refer to the devices and often the devices' operating system that are used to access Cloud Services. Some examples of these include: Smartphones, iPhones, netbooks, iPad, thin clients, thick clients (AKA fat client), and so on.

Thin client - often refers to a computer that has very basic functionality, and mainly offloads the bulk of functionality to a server.

Thick clients ( fat client ) - A computer that doesn't need or rely on a server to run. A typical computer is a thick client.

With Cloud Computing, whichever cloud client you use to connect to your Cloud application or Cloud desktop, that device is acting more in the role of a thin client. Whereby it is essentially getting you connected to the Cloud where all the work is actually being done.

Companies can save hundreds of dollars in the hardware /software savings alone, by replacing expensive notebooks with various types of more cost-effective Cloud Clients. The savings with Cloud Computing and cloud clients doesn't end there however, and a cloud client can take a fraction of the time to set up than a typical computer or notebook would take.

For instance, an engineering college can instruct students to buy some thin-clients and make them access learning resources stored on college servers ( may be cloud based) to carry-out their academic works such as lab and projects. This eliminates need for establishing computer labs with expensive hardware and software components