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Thin clients assist business in battle to reduce carbon footprint

CO2 emissions reduced by 166,000 tonnes in Western Europe during 2007

Reading, London, 26 March 2008 – Thin clients are helping business in the battle against global warming, IGEL Technology reported today. The choice of thin clients over PCs on the business desktop has reduced CO2 emissions in Western Europe by 166,000 tonnes in 2007 - equivalent to the emissions of more than 540 return flights from London to New York.

The analysis is based on the latest IDC analyst figures and research carried out by the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, which used IGEL thin clients to investigate the power and CO2 emissions of thin clients against traditional business PCs and discovered significant power, ecological and financial savings.

“Energy consumption when in operation was up to 50 percent lower than for conventional PCs,” concluded Dr Hartmut Pflaum, the Fraunhofer researcher. “While PCs consume about 85 watts on average, thin clients including their server get by with 40 to 50 watts. In view of climate change and the need to reduce CO2 emissions, this is an important factor.”

With IDC figures reporting just over 3.4m thin clients sold in Western Europe since 2004 and an average machine lifecycle of 4 years, thin client-based businesses have reduced CO2 emissions by 166,000 tonne in 2007.

“This analysis proves that businesses are reducing their carbon footprint by simply switching from desktop PCs to thin clients,” said Stephen Yeo, Strategic Director of Worldwide Marketing for IGEL Technology. “However, the potential for savings is even more impressive. Today the thin client industry has just over 10% of the commercial desktops across Western Europe. If that percentage was to rise to 50% it would be a significant move in the battle to beat global warming.”

Notes to Editors

Fraunhofer Institute Findings:

Energy requirement with server share

	Thin Client	Thin Client with server pro rata + server cooling3	PC
Power consumption1	16 W	41 W	85 W
x 8 hours per day	128 Wh	328 Wh	680 Wh
x 220 working days per year	28 kWh	72 kWh	149 kWh
Costs for 1 working station per year2	4,22 €	10,82 €	22,35 €
- 10 working stations	42,20 €	108,20 €	223,50 €
- 100 working stations	422 €	1082 €	2.235 €
- 1.000 working stations	4.220 €	10.820 €	22.350 €
Savings TC compared to PC	81 %	51 %

1 Average active power
2 Electricity tariff  = 0,15 kWh
3  Worst case: 20 User / Server

CO2 wastage with server share

	Thin Client	Thin Client with server pro rata + server cooling3	PC
Power consumption1	16 W	41 W	85 W
x 8 hours per day	128 Wh	328 Wh	680 Wh
x 220 working days per year	28 kWh	72 kWh	149 kWh
Costs for 1 working station per year2	17,64 kg	45,36 kg	93,87 kg
- 10 working stations	176,4 kg	453,6 kg	938,7 kg
- 100 working stations	1,76 t	4,54 t	9,39 t
- 1.000 working stations	17,6 t	45,4 t	93,9 t

1 Average active power
2 The production of one kWh from the electricity network gives rise to 0,63 kg CO2

Western Europe Thin Client CO2 Emission Savings Over PCs

Thin Client CO2 Emission Savings Over PCs	2004	2005	2006	2007	Total
Western Europe TC sales	634,706	885,732	895,886	1,016,399	3,432,723
CO2 saved	30789.59	42966.86	43.459.43	49305.50	166,521
Installed base of TC in Europe (4 yr life)	3,432,723
CO2 tonnage saved	166,521
Jumbo jet London NY flights @ 1.53T/return	544.19

About IGEL Technology

IGEL Technology is the world’s number three thin client vendor and is market leader in its home country of Germany (Q4 2007 IDC). The company produces the industry’s widest range of thin clients, based on Linux and Microsoft Windows, giving customers access to the richest set of digital services through the very powerful, IGEL designed, firmware. Form factors include traditional desktops, mobile tablets, integrated LCD units, quad screens and PC to thin client conversion cards. All IGEL thin clients come with the bundled, easy to use, IGEL Remote Management software, giving you maximum remote control with the minimum cost and hassle. IGEL supports the broadest set of digital services including terminal emulation, web, ICA, RDP, Virtual Desktops (VDI), Java and native SAP. All devices support smart cards for maximum security and this includes integration with Citrix Password Manager’s Hot Desktop allowing sub 10 second boot times for roaming workers.