Nobody knows more than United Rentals, North America’s largest equipment rental company, how important it is to have the right tools. And for United’s IT department, a toolbox filled with IGEL thin client devices is getting the job done across their network of national retail stores.

Like many companies in many different markets, United Rentals and its Chief Technology Officer, Patrick Stephens, has made a commitment to thin client technology. For United, the landmark year was 1999, when their IBM 5250 and browser computing environment included a migration to IBM thin clients. But when IBM announced its withdrawal from the thin client market, United conducted a comprehensive review of thin client vendors, putting eight leading manufacturers through their paces and ultimately choosing IGEL.

So why continue with thin client? Stephens readily offers, 'With our reliance on Java applications, we needed more horsepower. Our IBM-based point of sales, Flash and browser applications are thin. And speed, connection and simplified management, is what thin client computing is all about.'

And why the upgrade with IGEL? According to Stephens, 'IGEL was the clear winner based on price/performance and form factor, and because of their flexibility, open architecture and support for Linux.'

'Flexibility' is a key word in Stephens’s vocabulary. Flexibility meant the ability to handle PS2, USB, and USB printer ports, as well as Smart cards, which may be a part of the United Rentals IT future. It also meant that IGEL was able to provide a 'roll-your-own' image when Stephens needed to deploy new versions of Firefox, JVM and Flash - a request that was implemented in just 48 hours.

To truly understand the scope of the migration and upgrade to IGEL, consider the following facts: Currently, United Rentals has approximately 5,000 IGEL thin clients at 700+ retail locations. During its most recent upgrade, United and its integrator, Computer Products Corporation, were able to roll out 4,000 image-loaded IGEL thin client devices in just over three weeks - at the height of the summer rental season. And the move went so smoothly that the expertise of IGEL was needed for only four hours at deployment.

Other numbers give Stephens reason to smile, 'Thanks to IGEL, our 14,000 users on 5,000 thin clients can be serviced by a help desk support of only 20 people.'

The IGEL solution is also making a strong contribution to the bottom line. According to Stephens, 'The PC Windows infrastructure can be extremely costly to maintain and the IGEL product reduces that cost considerably because you don’t have problems with viruses and regular patches, and it provides a consistent operating environment as it connects to the core.'