Thin@A professional Thin client solutionfor Clarion

Copyright © 2010, RIS d.o.o.All rights reserved.

About Us

• Company name: RIS d.o.o.• Company website: http://www.ris.hr/

• Product name: Thin@• Website: www.thinetsolution.com

Contents

Company profileWhy Thin@How it really worksThin@ and SaaS (Software as Service)Similar and alternative solutionsFeatures & benefits overviewTechnical specifications & FAQThin@ Quick Start GuidePricingSummary

Company profile

RIS d.o.o. is a privately owned companyEstablished in 1993More than 16 years in the software industryMore than 30 employeesCustomers among the largest Croatian companies, such as Croatia Osiguranje insurance company, Croatian Radiotelevision, Croatian Ministry of Defence, Croatia Bank, etc.Full list of references:http://eng.ris.hr/reference.asp

ISO 9001:2000 quality

Why Thin@ ?

Because it solves the everlasting question: Desktop application vs. internet-based application. With Thin@, you can have the best of both worlds in a single solution!

No transition penalty from the client-server environment to the web environment!

End users won’t even notice they’re working over the internet

It’s easy – just add Thin@ set of templates to your application and it’s ready to run over the Internet

All data is compressed and encrypted

How Thin@ works ?

But how it really works?

Thin@ server computer

Thin@ client computer

User action 3: Clicks a button

“Sure, choose your application!”

Application object info

“This one please”The application starts on the server

“Hey, I’d like to connect”

User action 1: Starts Thin@ client

User action 2: Picks an application

“Here you go.”

Thin@ client library draws the window

Thin@ scans the window

“I clicked that button.”

Thin@ clicks the button and a new window opens

“This is your new window.”

List of appllications

Window object info

Introduction to SaaS

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network or over the Internet.SaaS is becoming an increasingly prevalent delivery model in particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The latest predictions indicate that SaaS will make up 30 percent of the software market by 2010 and will be worth more than $11 billion.

Other8%

Systematic Upgrades &

Updates12%

Lower Staff Support Require-ments19%Improved Application Reli-

ability & Performance21%

Greater ROI & Cost Effec-tiveness

40%

SaaS benefits

Source: Cutter Consortium

Did you know Gartner says SaaS

will account for 25% of new

business software by 2011 ?

SaaS maturity levels

Level 4 - Scalable, Configurable, Multi-Tenant

multitier architecture, load-balanced farm of identical application instances

Level 3 - Configurable, Multi-Tenant

single program instance serves all customers

Level 2 – Configurable configurable metadata, customers use separate instances of the same

application codeLevel 1 - Ad-Hoc/Custom each customer has its own

customized version of the hosted application

Thin@ support for SaaS most common billing options

Subscription plans

Usage-based billing

A subscription with a per-usage charge

over quota

A running account

Pre-paid tickets

Thin@ advanced usage-based billing calculation

20 seconds default billing control unitRandom keyboard and mouse clicks not calculatedCustomers pay only for the time they were actively using the application !

The Thin@ usage calculation formula:

Inactive Time

Report

Preview

Time

Long

Process Jobs

User activity

time

Session time

solves one of the primary customer concerns regarding SaaS

20 seconds default billing control

unit

Random keyboard

and mouse

clicks not calculated

Only user activity

time relevant

Similar and alternative solutions

Client-server applicationsRemote Desktop ConnectionIP driver

Thin@ vs. Client-server

Thin@ applications

• no database client required

• no application code on client side

• fast version refresh• secure database

Client-server applications

• database client required

• application code on client side

• slow version refresh• database security

issues

Remote Desktop ConnectionQ: What are the advantages of Thin@ over Remote

Desktop Connection (Citrix, Terminal Service, etc.)?

Thin@

Remote Desktop Connection

auto-reconnect,

user licensing ,

SaaS support

Centralised

server

administration

less bandwidth -

> faster window

refresh

Lower cost

Multipurpose

solution

IP driver – same or different technology ?

•Thin@ uses the client only to draw the user interface of the server side application.

•All application operations are server-dependent and Thin@ is completely database independent as well.

Thin@

•Clarion IP driver only separates database process to server side

•all window operations, calculations and other functions are still client-dependent.

IP driver

Combining Thin@ and IP driver

Thin@

IP drive

r

An excellent solution for

companies that look for a professional

but still inexpensive RIA hosting solution with a server farm

and using the TopSpeed database.

Thin@ real-life application examples

• Single programmers• Small and medium enterprises• Large companies

Thin@ real-life applicationsFAROS: an enterprise ERP solution

• FAROS is a web-oriented business information system for support to general business processes of a company regardless to its business or size.

• It is fully based on Thin@ technology

• More info on:http://eng.ris.hr/faros.asp

FAROS + Thin@: How does it work ?

Company halls

Application server cluster

Database server cluster

SAN storage

Workplace

Home

Anywhere

The Internet

Features & benefits overview

• Key features• Powerful and easy server administration• Advanced client connection tool• User licensing and authentication• Other features• Support for most Clarion features

Key features1/3

easy (almost none additional work in transition) Internet deployment with Windows API look style

very stable working environment run as fast as desktop applications identical user interface as in original

application including pictures, icons, menus and most Clarion control types

Key features2/3

multithreaded application support (allows multi-window environment inside applications)

auto-reconnect option included (if you lose your internet connection or something happens with your network, the client will automatically try to reconnect and as soon as the network is back you can continue your work without any additional action)

Key features3/3

balanced application load on multiple servers

SaaS (Software as a Service) maturity level 4 support: usage-based billing calculation algorithms integrated allowing the host company to charge by usage time

Powerful and easy server farm administration centralized server management tool

(the farm database is maintained centrally) wizards for all administrative options capable of reviewing and terminating all

user connections integrated user activity log (It's possible

to view all user session data, including user login / logoff time, session time and active session time.)

Advanced client connection tool client user connection review (user

connections can be reviewed in the thin@ client main window)

integrated automatic client upgrade solution (new versions of the client with can easily be distributed among users)

open source client (modifying the appearance and various client options allowed)

integrated client proxy support with authentication

User licensing and authentication1/2 username / password user authentication

with licensing included (you can set the expire date per user license)

licensing per application included (it is possible to declare which application a user can activate)

company / user classification supported

User licensing and authentication2/2 external authentication solution (for

example you can authenticate thin@ users with database authentication or with windows authentication, such as Active Directory)

client recognition by username or machine unique key (allowing clients to connect through available license slots, and eliminating "ghost" applications in case of unpredicted application failure).

Other cool features1/2

does not require any other products to load (such as Clarion app broker)integrated, unique and powerful internet communication error checking (in case of instable networks)file download and file upload includedallows running command prompt commands, scripts and programs on the client machine

Other cool features2/2

allows running a web test environment on the local machine without any additional server programintegrated time check on download of icons, pictures and other window file controlsLong timeout feature - triggered only in case of long running operations or reportsdynamic creation of client server directory (holds the client's uploaded files)

Most Clarion features supported1/2

integrated report preview of classic WMF files with PDF export support on client sideThin@ event generation works on every window event, including the SELECT() command.Select and accept events can be tweaked for every window control, increasing performance.edit-in-place support

Most Clarion features supported2/2

prop:timer event supportedprop:touch supported on control selectionproplist:mousedown events includedall dialogs included (color dialog, file dialog, printer dialog, font dialog)AnyFont template support includedcontrol color marker supportedetc.

List of unsupported features in this version

Date and time display on menu framesSVGraph templateRTF controlsDrag & drop functionsBrowse GridASCII viewerSTD procedure callsBusiness rulesThreaded report callsOLE ActiveX controls

Technical specifications

• Thin@ components• Thin@ system model• Thin@ communication architecture• Thin@ server architecture

Thin@ system model

Thin@ Client functions

• retrieves a list of available applications from the listener on the main server 

• sends a request to start an application to the listener

• receives the response and connects to an available address 

• draws the windows and performs all the operations needed for window drawing

• sends kill requests for server processes

Thin@communication architectureNetSetup Administration

Utilityfunctions

• server, user and application management

• update and overview of the main server options

• management of server connections (including connection kill)

• SaaS support

Thin@ server architectureThin@ Server process• resides only on the main server• receives server information

from the monitor• sends information about

available servers to the listener 

Thin@ Listener process• receives client request • sends application list, server

address and port information to the client

• starts the application

Thin@ Monitor process• monitors all the applications

and kills the inactive ones• sends information about server

availability to the main server

NEW FEATURE !Thin@ Port Collector• Resides between the Thin@ server and the Thin@

client• Tunnels client connections through a single port

Advantages:• Improved security – clients connect through a single

port• Reduced administrative tasks (opening additional

ports on firewall etc.)

Technical FAQ

• How many users can connect simultaneously to a single ThiN@ server?

250 users per server

Clarion app size:

30 MB

Server: 8 GB RAM

For example:It depends on two factors: the amount of RAM memory your server has and the total number of active application windows on the server (Windows limitation).

Technical FAQ

• Which Clarion version does ThiN@ support ?

– Thin@ was fully and thoroughly tested to work bug-free with the latest Clarion release, as will always be the case. The supported Clarion versions are: 7.1, 7.0, 6.3, 6.2 and 6.1

Technical FAQ

• Which Operating Systems does ThiN@ support ?

– The Server side was tested on and supports Windows 2000, NT, XP, Vista, 2003 Server and 2008 Server - both 32bit and 64 bit. The Client side was tested on and supports all the abovementioned operating systems, as well as Windows 95, 98 and Millennium Edition.

Technical FAQ

• Is it possible to use most of the templates of Cape Soft any other Clarion 3rd party developers?

– Anyfont is fully supported. We did not test other

CapeSoft templates at this moment, but with your feedback we plan to support all templates that might not be working properly.

Technical FAQ

• What about software upgrades? – There will be regular software upgrades which you

will be able to download from our site. These upgrades will include bug fixes as well as software improvements and new features.

• Will I have to pay for software upgrades ? – No. Software upgrades will be provided for free.

However, you will have to buy new major versions of the software.

Thin@ Quick Start Guide 1/2

• Run the Thin@ installer and follow the installation instructions.

• Use the Thin@ Net Setup Wizard to register your first Thin@ application server, Clarion application and your first Thin@ user.

• Open your Clarion application and insert the ThiNet template in the global extensions section.

• Make sure than the field USE variable contains a value for every menu item and every control in your application.

Thin@ Quick Start Guide 2/2

• Make sure that the files 7z.exe, ThinNet.dll and RisNet.dll are in your application folder or in your Clarion6/BIN folder.

• Make sure that your application uses the Standalone (C60RUNx.DLL) Run-Time Library.

• Make sure that you don’t use any of the still unsupported features in your application. For a list of unsupported features see our Programmer’s Guide.

• Compile your application.

Pricing

Trial version Registered version

PRICE: FREE 1 license: 600 USD3 license pack: 1150 USD

Includes: • Thin@ Trial Version• Full User Documentation• Version Upgrades• Forum Access

• ThiN@ Server License• Full User Documentation• Version Upgrades• Customer Support

Our strenghtsFlexibilit

y and Customer Support

Quality Products

Experience &

Stability: 18 Years in

Industry

Price / Value

Professional staff

CARE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

- Client-server look & feel, your users won’t

even notice the difference

- Extremely stable working environment,

designed to run 24/7/265

- Accessibility from anywhere, any time

- Security - encryption of all data that travels

over the network

- Customer support

- Avoid the initial user

investments- Reduce the

IT maintenance

costs- SaaS

support

- Easy to implement- Extensive

Clarion features support

- Continuous upgrades

-Documentation, Forums, …

Key benefits

Availability

• Download from http://www.thinetsolution.com/buy.php