Many people think that technology is not important and that it is a commodity. Well there are two parts to this, those that want to cut costs and treat IT as a cost center. This article is for you. For those that want to use IT to beat the competition, which is what computers were designed to do for companies in the first place, that blog will come later. However, recently this very good article appeared. Here is and example where tehcnology is important as it can save you money, power, cooling and management costs, while improving security.

Standard office over last 15yrs with PC's (last century computing model).

Desktop PC on or under each desk.
Each has a transformer/power unit built in, normally between 300-800 Watts - which means lots of power required.
Each has a hard disk built in - which means lots of local data to back up, and a security issue to protect.
Each has a CD, DVD or maybe a floppy disk built in - which means even more easier to steal data.
Many deskstops will be different thus requiring different drivers/maint fixes etc.
PC's are left switched on overnight - which means a waste of company money/power (even when on standby).
Each PC has it's own CPU, many systems in your company will mean many different speed and type of CPU, more complexity and management, plus wasted rsesource as they are so underutilized.
Each PC has it's own operating system - which means a lot of complex managment required to maintain and update (means more costs).
If you have a laptop, you need the network to do most of your work, but you better make sure you do not loose your laptop and it's data.

Mobile workers may need laptops and that is OK, but if you count the people in your company who always sit at the same desk everyday, those are the ones who do not need a company laptop.

Often you need many admins to manage these, if a desktop PC fails the time taken to replace and restore all data is hours or days.

I base my security theft assumptions on the fact that most security breaches and losses of data are due to internal process and people.

Thin Client or a Sun Ray (true thin client with no local data) which can present (run) Windows apps. This is what I call the new millenium computing model. Big picture so that you can see there are no tricks here.

Small unit size of a large pocket book on desk.
Small transformer up to 100W (actually 5-10W usage. Thus save you r power bill by 90% straight away. ROI case solved.
No hard disk - whcih means no local data to backup, no local data to steal. Security problem solved.
No CD, DVD or floppy - so nothing to steal, no security required to manage. Security solved, again.
No local drivers required as the SunRay thin client has a network card and graphics chip.
There is no local CPU , fan cooling or anything like that, much less power usage even when left switched on.
No local operating system. Thus upgrade & maintenance costs reduced by orders of magnitude.
SunRays come with Wifi connections, so if the network goes down it is easy to get another connection. If a disaster occurs it is easy to move to another building which has the half of the data and work can start very quickly from the point where you left your work. All you need is your ID card to sign in, or your password.
In a disaster we do not have to restore 1,000 of PC's but just one server, ideally the backup server has all the data in another site already and work continues. No great drama or crises here.

Sunrays are not for mobile workers. How many of us are mobile anyway.

If the SunRay fails, you can replace in minutes or hours, no data to restore, as there is no data locally. So you can use one of these SunRay thin clients and keep your present screens or buy whicever you want, the SunRay uses standard screens. Big pictures so that you can really check it out.

This needs 1 x power connection, 1 x network connection and 1 x connection to the screen, mouse and keyboard, if all goes wrong it takes 2 minutes to replace. Uses about 4Watts of power and has no moving parts and totally silent. It is the height of a paperback book and you can see a credit card size ID card that you can insert to identify yourself to any Sunray in your network/company. As you can see you can have microphones and speakers connected if you really want to. You can take it out rush upstairs and put it in your bosses Sunray and he can see exactly what you are working on. Great when people are changing over between presentations.

So technology is not important, one requires lots of maintenance, power and takes a long to replace if broken, plus horendous security issues. The other technology solves all those business issues.

Have a look here to see how you can get a competitive edge.