Applica Technology

Applica Inc. is a privately held company, which delivers PC products that leverage its patent-protected, Zero-Client technology. The Zero-Client technology (e.g. Applica U2) enables additional sets of standard PC peripherals - monitors, mice, keyboards and audio (speakers, microphones, headsets) - to form the lowest-cost, fully-functional Windows “stations” capable of accessing and sharing the resources of a commodity PC. The near-native performance of each Applica solution far exceeds the capabilities of competing thin client configurations. Solutions with Applica content deliver the lowest Total-Cost-of-Acquisition (TCA) and Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO) for any deployment, expansion or upgrade of a desktop/tower, multi-seat configuration.

Since Applica stations are comprised of components that are absolutely dependent upon the Host PC to which they are physically connected, those stations are able to share most of the Host PC’s software licenses that are based upon “computer” or “node” licensing. Most importantly, graphical display information is efficiently delivered from the Host PC to each station’s display either natively or through a 132 Mbs point-to-point connection (CAT5 STP). This connection operates at bus speed and requires no protocol, providing a high bandwidth pipeline that is ideally suited for graphical windows and multimedia environments. Applica products also support touch screen technology for optimally configuring kiosks and retail terminals.

Applica products are easy to install and use since each Applica station’s user interface remains the familiar Windows desktop - no custom configuration, no protocols, and no special commands are needed. Multi-seat PC solutions with Applica technology are typically deployed and supported for 30 to 40 percent lower cost than conventional, single-user PC configurations.

Applica versions are available for Windows 95, 98, 98SE, 2000 Professional, 2000 Server, XP Home and XP Professional. Today, tens of thousands of people use Applica zero-client products that take advantage of the untapped power in Windows PCs to deliver multi-seat access to PC applications and the Internet. Businesses, schools, libraries, government and other institutions use Applica to stretch their computing budgets by delivering more desktops at the lowest possible cost.

See also: Technology | Cost of Ownership | Thin Client | Thin Computing | Network Computing | Server Based | RDP | Zero Client