Market Research Shows 7 Out of 10 Users Prefer Thin Clients over PCs for Everyday Business Tasks

Independent Blind "Taste Test" Challenges Common Perceptions as Vast Majority of Users Choose Wyse® Winterm™ Thin Clients Over PC Desktops

San Jose, CA – 10/18/2004 - Wyse Technology, the domain experts in server-centric computing (SCC), announced today the revealing results of the world's first independent research comparing the user's experience of a thin client versus a PC. In a blind "taste test" in which devices were hidden from the user and the two desktop environments were identical, seven out of ten candidates who expressed a preference favored the thin client over the PC. Twice as many candidates thought the thin client was the faster desktop in comparison with the PC.

"The results of the research are compelling and point to the increasing attraction of thin clients to the users of the devices," said Mike DeNeffe, senior director of the Wyse Winterm line. "The resulting report from the study provides further evidence that thin clients are increasingly in favor with traditional PC users."

Additional findings included:

• 72 percent said that the thin client allowed them to start on tasks from boot-up more quickly than on the PC.
• 55 percent rated the thin client faster at performing business tasks than the PC.

"People traditionally presume that PCs provide a better user experience than thin clients," said Bob O'Donnell, director of personal technology at IDC. "The healthy growth numbers that we'll be seeing in the thin client shipments over the next several years can be attributed not only to the IT management benefits of thin client computing, but to increasing end-user preferences as well."

The research involved 110 survey participants who conducted a set of everyday business tasks using Microsoft® Office on both a Wyse Winterm thin client and an average business PC. After carrying out the test on both machines, the candidates were asked which device was faster to use and which one they would prefer as their desktop.

The test was conducted by Winmark, an independent, London-based market research consultancy specializing in IT product testing and market research, in accordance with the British Market Research Society code of conduct.

The test involved a Wyse Winterm 1125SE thin client, an entry-level device in the Winterm line, connected to a Citrix® Metaframe® server running Microsoft Office 2000. The server was powered by a single processor 2.4GHz Intel® Zeon® loaded with 11 active users running Office applications. The PC ran Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Microsoft Office 2000. It was powered by a 1.3GHz AMD® Duron® and included a fast 100ATA 7200RPM hard disk and an Nvidia® Gforce® graphics card. Both the PC and Citrix server were attached to the same Microsoft Exchange server to keep a level playing field.

Associate Director of Research at Winmark, Graham Brown, commented, "A lot of effort was put into keeping this a representative and fair comparison and the research was conducted to the highest standards. This included a technical design that kept a level playing field at all times. The desktops were swapped half way through the two day test and the PC and thin client were kept well hidden. We carried out the test with 110 men and women making it statistically robust. What we can clearly see is that 60.9 percent of people preferred the thin client, 26.4 percent the PC and 12.7 percent had no preference. That means seven out of 10 people (69.8 percent) who expressed a preference preferred the thin client. This is significant at the 99.9 percent confidence level."

The full report will be available for download at www.wyse.com/resources/whitepapers.

About Winmark

Winmark, based in London, England, is a full service market research consultancy providing research solutions for clients in the Information & Communications Technology sector. Typical Winmark projects include product testing, market research, new product development and client satisfaction surveys.

Winmark clients include Canon, RSA Security, BMC Software, Omnetica and the British Institution of Electrical Engineers.

All Winmark projects are managed by a senior member of staff, all of whom are members of the British Market Research Society. Visit www.winmark.co.uk for more information.

About Wyse Technology

Wyse is the #1 vendor the world's largest businesses and institutions trust for scalable thin-client computing solutions. Wyse provides the hardware, software, and services that shift computing complexity to the network, reducing cost, liberating IT departments from unnecessary support and maintenance functions, empowering users to be more productive in their jobs, and protecting and improving access to critical information and business applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California with offices worldwide, Wyse has been #1 in thin-client market share for the last eight years, enjoys a close partnership with Citrix Systems, and has been named Microsoft "Embedded Partner of the Year" for three years. Wyse customers include FedEx, Best Buy (Canada), Quaker Foods, and Gold's Gym.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE