These are typical situations where people with different devices, working on different operating systems, would need computing help, from the same server.

The IT world is entering the era of Accessibility Nirvana, where accessibility to the server is assured, no matter what device or what OS you are using. In fact, it is not hard to imagine that `absolute accessibility' will be indispensable in a not-too-distant-future — ask any banker. The trend towards `anywhere, anytime banking' is a good example of the inevitability of the accessibility era.

But, wait a minute! Aren't we already there? Why, there is the Internet, I can access, through the Web, anything I want— like my e-mails, for instance.

Yes, but there is a difference. There is only so much that you can access on the Internet, but absolute accessibility extends much beyond that. To give a simple example, today you can't access your e-mails sent to your office address, can you? Okay, this you can have transferred automatically to your Hotmail or Yahoo address, but what about accessing other applications such as SAP or the intranet?

At the heart of this Accessibility Nirvana is `server-based computing'. In an SBC architecture, all the computing is done at the server (as opposed to desktop) — mouse clicks and key strikes are transmitted to the server, where the computing takes place. Thereafter, only the screen updates are transferred back to the client (user). This is also called `thin-client' computing, because the user's desk has basically only the screen and no computing power.

As the need for accessibility explodes, the trend is towards SBC software. This is useful not only in areas like banks and insurance companies, which need to connect up a large number of user points, but also in making available `virtual home office', where a person's `office' is his computing device — be it a laptop or a Simputer or a PC. This is where "you don't go to office, the office comes to you".

India is a part of the global trend towards increased SBC usage. Analysts, such as Giga Information Group, predict that the SBC market will grow to about $3 billion by 2005, from about $1.25 billion in 2001.

Worldover, the leader in the SBC market is the $700-million Citrix Systems Inc whose product, Citrix MetaFrame, is estimated to have about 80 per cent share of the market. Some of the other products that operate in the same space as Citrix MetaFrame are Microsoft Terminal, Tarantella, Hoblink, New Moon and GraphOn. Microsoft's Terminal Server is, however, a result of the collaboration between Citrix and Microsoft, and Microsoft gives it bundled with MetaFrame. Other products such as New Moon and GraphOn are marginal players in the market. Therefore, in the arena of SBC, Citrix and Tarantella are the two gladiators, Citrix being the bigger of the two. Citrix's revenues have grown from $250 million in 1998 to $700 million last year — which illustrates the trend towards SBC.

In India, the growth of SBC is likely to be driven by banks, mainly the public sector banks, whose branch inter-connectivity is just about beginning to happen now.

HDFC Bank is a user of Citrix MetaFrame. In response to a question from eWorld, the bank's IT chief, C. N. Ram, says that Citrix-enabled remote office connectivity is easy for rapid deployment and needs lower bandwidth.

Further, the bank won't have to spend on desktop upgrades and Citrix is more scalable, he says.

There are also banks that do not use Citrix. The Global Trust Bank's Senior Vice-President, IT, Venkatesh, says the bank has gone in for Windows Terminal Emulation Software. "We are currently trying out the Microsoft Terminal Server, which is said to offer the same facility as Citrix". But then, the Terminal Server, as said earlier, is also partly Citrix.

Votaries of SBC claim that having the server in one location and a back-up server in another is a big help in disaster recovery.

There is the famous example of Merrill Lynch, whose office in the World Trade Centre was destroyed on 9/11, but because its employees could access the back-up server from home (or elsewhere), the company was up on its feet the very next day.

While the growth of SBC in India appears to be assured, analysts also point out its limitations.

It is pointed out that in mission-critical applications, such as software jobs for overseas customers, it is desirable to have some computing power on the desktop, as network problems could hamper work.

ramesh@thehindu.co.in

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