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March 6, 2000

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Thin Clients Tapped In Times Of Change
Mergers and acquisitions, growth of ASPs push technology further into the mainstream

By Alan S. Horowitz

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ergers and acquisitions have become commonplace in recent years. At the same time, a growing number of companies have begun looking to application service providers to host their critical software. These are two very different trends, but they have one thing in common: Both are playing key roles in moving thin clients further into the mainstream as desktop devices.

Take Community First Bankshares Inc. The Fargo, N.D., bank is relying on thin-client technology to streamline computing operations in the wake of a surge in growth. The bank has been growing 20% to 40% annually through acquisitions of other financial institutions all over the country. It bought four (including Republic National Bank in Arizona and First National Summit Bankshares in Colorado) in 1997, five (including Community Bancorp in Colorado and Western Bancshares in New Mexico) in 1998, and two (including River Bancorp in Minnesota) in 1999.

The bank has assets of $6.3 billion and operations in 158 communities in 12 states--as well as 2,800 employees using thin clients. It began rolling out thin clients to its expanding group of users at the start of its acquisitions spree. Bob Thompson, the bank's senior VP of information systems, says that its thin-client strategy has been the glue that helps hold the rapidly growing business together.

It was important for Community First to develop a plan to quickly integrate operations among its existing business and new acquisitions. Before converting to a centrally managed, thin-client architecture, Thompson had to deal with numerous IT maintenance staff in diverse locations running different applications on a wide range of systems. These groups didn't communicate with one another, he says, and "as a result, the computers couldn't talk together very well."

Thin clients provided the fastest, easiest way to get everyone reading from the same IT page. The thin-client strategy, which has allowed the bank to centralize most servers and its IT department at its Fargo headquarters, has let the bank standardize IT across all existing operations, and new businesses as they are acquired. When a bank is acquired, virtually all tech support is taken over by the headquarters' IT staff, and users are moved to a common set of applications running off the central servers. They connect to the main office via virtual private networks.

About half of bank workers now use Wyse Technology Inc.'s Winterm 2700 series Windows terminals, but Community First also realized it could make use of some of the PCs at its acquired facilities by equipping them with Citrix emulation software to run server-based applications. There are now only scattered instances in which an acquired bank will have to maintain an application locally, such as when it proved too difficult to get one institution's online-teller software converted to Community First's existing system.

The bank is moving its Wyse users from Citrix WinFrame to MetaFrame software, a process that should be completed in the first quarter. The move is being made because of MetaFrame's increased capabilities, such as load balancing, Thompson says. "I see us continuing to expand our thin-client environment. It's a source of fuel for our acquisition strategy," he says.

Servers are added to the Fargo center to boost overall capacity as necessary. Since implementing the thin-client strategy, the bank has added more than 50 servers at its headquarters, and now has about 80. New servers are put online after spending just a few hours being loaded with the bank's standard software set, which includes Microsoft Office and specialized banking software.

The benefits of using a thin-client architecture, Thompson says, include getting acquisitions on board with the bank's standard technology quickly; the ability to quickly update systems and troubleshoot problems across the country from one location; and simplified administration that has let the bank operate with a smaller pool of technical staff.

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