IGEL Technology today announced UK growth of 45% in its sales of thin clients and 50% in its Universal Desktop Converter software for the first half of the calendar year, underlining the steady shift of business and public sector to server-based computing and virtual desktop infrastructures.

"Organizations are increasingly turning to IGEL thin clients because they are the perfect desktop device for these challenging economic times; easy to centrally manage, long-lasting, secure and incredibly cost effective," said IGEL UK & Ireland Managing Director Simon Richards. "With our latest System-on-a-Chip thin clients and technologies such as Citrix HDX, the ability to deliver multimedia is also no longer a handbrake for customers wanting to deploy thin clients and we are seeing this recognition reflected in our growth results."

IGEL has also seen continued growth in its Universal Desktop Converter software, which allows businesses to cost effectively extend the life of their current desktops to deliver a Server-Based Computing architecture or to produce a shorter return on investment when migrating to a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment.

IGEL's UDC software allows IT environments with mixed desktop hardware, such as PCs or thin clients from different manufacturers, to be standardized at low cost and to be efficiently and securely managed over a network, or over the Internet, by means of one interface.

With the cost savings that desktop standardization and standardized remote management brings, customers are able to cushion the impact of costs for centralization or VDI projects. For example, savings of up to 70% compared to PC-based workstations, help to balance out the investment and licensing costs incurred when centralizing and modernizing operations in the data center.

"We expect to see this conversion growth trend continue as businesses look for efficient and effective ways to convert to a centralised or virtual desktop environment," said Richards. "Conversion is perfect for organizations that want to begin the transition to more effective desktop management and savings immediately but do not want to invest in new thin client hardware from day one."