Thin client computing architecture is a term used to describe systems consisting of a powerful server connected to several bare-bones clients. These clients perform little or no computing on their own but instead rely on the server for everything from applications to calculations.

Thin client computing architecture has been around since near the beginning of the computer revolution, but the term was only popularized by Oracle in 1993. For the 20 years or so prior to that, thin clients were known as terminals. They started off in the 70′s and 80′s as text-only systems and expanded to graphical terminals in the 90′s. With the advent of faster network speeds, thin clients are getting even thinner, many now relying on the web for their operating system and processing capabilities.

Traditional thin client systems were vulnerable because they had only one point of failure. If the server or network connection was down, the clients were out of luck. The web is now changing all that, allowing one client to be served by multiple servers, with the rest able to pick up the slack if one or more servers fail.

Many modern thin client systems utilize a basic operating system on the client and Java applications on the server. This setup is used in many kiosks and retail systems.

The primary benefit to thin client computing architecture is the cost, with organizations able to purchase dozens of cheap clients and only one powerful server. Thin client computing architecture has been with us for a long time, and the paradigm will doubtless continue into the future.