[THIN] Re: Wyse Rapport
- From: "Michael J. Daseke" <MDaseke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 06:14:48 -0500
Fausto,
You asked for opinions and you received a few. I would like to provide
an alternate view. Let me preface this with that like many of the other
opinions, mine is very biased. I work for a company called Rapport
Technologies, Inc. We develop, sell, and support the Rapport Management
Software product for device manufacturers.
Facts:
1. Rapport is not proprietary at all. It supports more industry
standard management communications protocols than any other thin client
management software alternative. These include Intel's Wired for
Management, SNMP, and HTTP(S). It also is the only management software
package supporting thin clients which utilizes a GUI in a standard
management framework, the Microsoft Management Console.
2. It does have a proprietary scripting language which is very simple,
yet powerful. This is because many management software package fail
because the administrator are required to be programmers in order to
learn to create or modify scripts. However, if your administrators
prefer programming to administration, Rapport also supports
non-proprietary scripting languages, VBScript and Windows Scripting
Host.
3. Rapport is more bandwidth efficient than any other thin client
management software alternative. Rapport has support for remote
software repositories (FTP servers) which allows remote clients to
utilize remote FTP servers so each client does not need to cross the WAN
for software updates. You can also limit the number of simultaneous
updates that occur to ensure the management software does not flood the
network. Coming soon, you will see even more dramatic improvements in
this area from Rapport.
4. The installation for Rapport is more complicated than the other thin
client management software. We have made dramatic improvements over the
last year and I think you will see a dramatic improvement in the near
future (I don't John has performed an installation of the lastest
version). However, there is a reason for this. Rapport was designed to
scale to tens of thousands of clients:
- Rapport has a ODBC database backend (SQL Server). Not only does this
provide scaling capability but also provides for excellent reporting and
integration to other applications. Many of the other products mentioned
are file based and therefore look great with 3 or 4 clients but will not
function with 10,000 clients.
- Rapport is a componentized client/server applications. Different
components can be run on separate servers allowing scaling. More
importantly, if the GUI is closed, the management product still
continues it's functions. Many of the other products are 1 executable.
- Rapport support remote software repositories to reduce network traffic
for software distribution.
This scalability can be demonstrated by many different enterprise
customers that are currently managing over 10,000 thin clients on single
instances of the Rapport Management Software in real-world production
environments. I do not think any other thin client management product
can claim this.
The drawback to this type of scalability is it makes installation and
usability more complex. You will continue to see dramatic improvements
in these areas as well. I would suggest a typical installation (all
components on the same server) to simplify the first installation.
I could write a book on all the advantages of Rapport. But I will leave
it at a response to the opinions previous raised.
I would be glad to provide additional details or other information. Or,
if you have feature requests or product feedback, please email me.
Michael J. Daseke
Vice President/Chief Software Architect
Rapport Technologies, Inc.
Phone: 972-418-1500 x118
Fax: 972-418-1501
________________________________________________________________________
Rapport is a proprietary management piece that has evolved slowly since
its introduction by Netier. For any deployment scenario a package must
be created and a script written (proprietary scripting language using
two letter commands, such as SF - send file, etc.) and then setup using
the MMC interface to be deployed only to those computers who already
have the client installed and running. It is also very bandwidth
intensive and it is difficult to setup in the most ideal conditions.
Rapport is actually an underpowered, overcomplicated piece that should
be completely re-written from new source code, but don't hold your
breath.
I think that the current pricing ranges between about $15/seat up to
about $30/seat (US)
On the good side, when compared to many other thin client vendors,
Rapport is actually superior to most due to the fact that most vendors
do not put much of their concentration/funding into the management
system and decide that they should just throw something together for
their clients to hobble along. In reality, the management piece should
be about 75% or more of the thin client sale process and most of the
companies are missing the boat on this. There are a few out there who
are doing it right: When I designed the NetX thin clients I chose
Altiris as the management piece because of its interoperability with
other systems (PCs, servers, now CE clients, etc), the fact that it does
actually work, the fact that it makes sense when using it, and because
many folks are already using it; Neoware is doing things pretty well
with their piece; and I think that with a little maturity, Televideo
will have a decent management tool. Those are the only three that have
a clue right now in my opinion, Rapport is not worth your time to get
aggravated with even the installation of it (try installing it on a LAN,
off the DHCP server, without IIS, and with the clients across subnets
from the server...then call their tech support ;-0
John Vorchak
Vorchak Software
Custom Windows XP Embedded and
Windows NT Embedded Components and Solutions
jvorchak@xxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [<mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>] On
Behalf Of Fausto Mok
Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 4:19 PM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Wyse Rapport=20
Solutions inITI'd like to hear your opinions about the Wyse Rapport
Sofware. Anyone have any idea of pricing? How does it compare to other
thin client remote management solutions? Is it easy to deploy and
manage? Thanks in advance.
Cheers.
Fausto.
fausto@xxxxxxxxxxx
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