Dell to offer'streaming' PCs

The idea of computing power on demand--delivered via thin clients and virtual machines--has long been an elusive target for the enterprise. Sure, it's possible to transition your fleet of high-maintenance PCs to thin clients, but is it a good idea? Dell certainly seems to think so. The Texan PC vendor is rolling out an integrated client PC system, for those too weary to build their own infrastructure from the ground up. Dell's "On-Demand Desktop Streaming" package will include all the hardware, software and services that a business needs to go virtual with end users' PCs. Eschewing the usual thin client/blade model, Dell will offer familiar looking PC towers sans hard drives, which will stream data over the network. Meanwhile, the onboard Intel processor and graphics chipset will assure that network congestion doesn't limit the processing speeds of local machines.

For more on the streaming PCs:
- see this PC Magazine article