"Our technology leadership in thin client software and hardware has made HP the customer's first choice in thin computing", stated Jeff Groudan, vice president, Desktop Solutions Organization, HP. "The reliable performance, affordable security and simple manageability of HP thin clients make them the ideal access devices to complete any client virtualization solution."

The enhanced HP Device Manager 4.0 is just one of four choices in HP's broad portfolio of thin client management options, which also includes HP ThinState tools, HP Client Automation and the Altiris Deployment solution. Available on every HP thin client at no additional charge, HP Device Manager delivers simple deployment, flexible integration, enhanced automation, network scalability and Microsoft Active Directory support for quick and easy integration into IT environments.

Key new features and enhancements of HP Device Manager include:

• Quick installation in less than five minutes, which enables administrators to easily manage thin clients with the simple and intuitive interface.
• IT administrators can use the additional settings wizard to automatically apply settings to a thin client when a specific trigger is achieved: upon boot, on schedule or on demand. For example, automatic scheduling of device shut down/start up can conserve energy and manage company costs.
• Enhanced operating system imaging capabilities that support a utility operating system to facilitate imaging. Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) imaging will continue to be supported for "bare metal" provisioning of thin clients.
• Virtual Network Computing (VNC) works in network address translated (NAT) environments, allowing remote workers to communicate with a gateway, or system that controls access to another computer, to initiate shadow requests and ensure the strongest security and access authentications. Gateways are also scalable to maximize local area network (LAN) bandwidth.
• Allows administrative access and remote login through an Active Directory/LDAP structure for more flexibility. This increases the security offered by HP Device Manager and simplifies administrator management.

HP TeemTalk terminal emulator software, which is included on most HP thin clients, provides access to host systems in the data centre, enabling access to applications running on those systems. HP TeemTalk offers a consistent look and feel, making it easy for customers to standardize on one terminal emulation product regardless of which operating system is used.