A FEW years ago, I would have said terminal services were something that happened in an airport and I'd have thought a citrix farm was some form of organic farming method.

However, more and more organisations I visit are using this technology. But why is this, and what does it mean to our old and trusty PC?

The fact is that more and more IT departments are increasingly delivering applications over the network and the desktop PC is quite simply losing its appeal.

We all know the PC is not the most flexible of machines, and today we have numerous other methods of accessing the software services we require.

While away from the office, we can use blackberrys, PDAs, laptops using WiFi to get into our own Portal with our own VPN (more on Portals another time).

Which begs the question, do we actually need a desktop PC at all?

Management of PCs can be difficult for the IT team, both in terms of control and support.

The support issue of PCs has traditionally placed a heavy demand on the IT department, between maintenance problems and rogue employees occasionally installing strange programs that they shouldn't.

Every user claims to be different from every other user and needs the latest version of something-or-other with the latest, fastest and newest bit of computer kit.

Management of the desktop PC can at times cause the IT department many headaches and frustrations.

Does it not make sense to have all our applications owned and delivered by the IT department?

All we really need is the ability to access the software we require to do the job in hand.

Does it matter if we use one of the many remote devices available instead of the traditional tower, keyboard and monitor set-up?

So it seems that we won't need to rely on the desktop PC as much as we used to, but with technology moving ever faster, I don't think we will be short of substitute devices.

Michael McMeekin is managing director of Wisdom IT. Log on to www.wisdomit.co.uk

Published: 16/08/2005