News From The Suntower!
'The Electronic Newsletter For
Users
of Simple Accounting for Forms Experts!'
Volume IV #7
04/03/02 |
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SAFE 5.01
Thin Client License Options
Despite the recent crash and burn of a number of DSL
companies, many of you are still going broad band in a big way. Great! So now
there is more and more interest in ThinSAFE and other thin-client technologies such as
Microsoft's Terminal Services and Citrix.
OK, let's compare and contrast: All three options allow you to run
all your Simple Accounting back office functions from any internet equipped PC. All three
require the purchase of our ThinSAFE Extensions in order to run SAFE over the Internet.
ThinSAFE (www.suntowersystems.com)
is our own client software. Once you have purchased the ThinSAFE Extensions
software, you are licensed for up to fifty (50) external users. The ThinSAFE client
provides for 56 bit data encryption, plus the ability to encrypt the data files
themselves, which results in a highly secure environment. The ThinSAFE clients look almost
identical to SAFE, but with a couple of key differences.
- ThinSAFE does not allow you to have multiple windows open at the
same time.
- ThinSAFE requires very few server resources and is not very
bandwidth intensive.
- ThinSAFE lets you use all the usual SAFE services, such as
e-mailing and faxing transactions, print preview, etc.
- On slower Internet connections, ThinSAFE is not as fast as SAFE.
However,ThinSAFE is quite adequate for almost all types of remote users. If you
need it, there are a number of features which allow one to work around the speed
difference such as Entry Style locators which replace the Search As You Type
variety in SAFE.
Microsoft Terminal Services (www.microsoft.com) and Citrix
MetaFrame are quite similar (at least, at first blush). The server component of Terminal
Services is included with Windows 2000 Server. If you are running Windows 2000
Professional or XP Professional as your client, you already have the proper client
software. If you are running Windows 98, NT Workstation or ME at the desktop, you are
required to purchase a license from Microsoft for your client. Currently, these run about
$75 USD per seat. Terminal Services is PC Emulator. You run any application that is
allowed by your server's administrator from your client in a window. The actual processing
is done on the server. The user experience is very fast; almost as fast as being 'in the
office', provided your server has the right horsepower.
The user experience also appears almost identical to being 'in the
office' (I'll explain more on this in a
minute.)
Citrix Metaframe (www.citrix.com), is
like Terminal Services on steroids. Basically, Terminal Services is a scaled back version
of the same program (the technology is licensed from Citrix). Citrix is expensive. A 25
user license can cost $8,000. So why would anyone purchase Citrix when T/S is
(almost) free? Citrix solves a number of pesky problems with T/S, such as:
- Printing. Terminal Services is notorious for being
difficult to configure for printing by remote clients.
- E-mail and fax services. Because T/S runs on the
server (in a window) a number of your local machines' services just won't work. For
example,
- Load Balancing. When you run T/S on your server,
T/S pretty much takes over. In other words, T/S uses up as much horsepower as it likes (as
if you were a user sitting at the server console). This can wreak havoc for users in the
office, who can find their applications running verrry sloowwly (or crashing).
Citrix has very good tools for limiting the amount of CPU power each remote user can take
up.
So, which to choose?
- If you have a number of remote users who demand peak performance,
spring for Citrix. It works great, but is expensive. However, it is extremely low
maintenance in that, once set up properly, you will have very few daily issues with it.
- If you have
a smaller
number of remote users who demand peak performance, but you're not quite ready for the up
front costs of Citrix, try Terminal Services. It works, but it will require a
certain amount of configuring (and re-configuring) in order to obtain best performance.
Plus, be willing to live with the occasional performance issue or server lock-up. Although
at first blush T/S seems inexpensive, be prepared for a server upgrade, or even a
separate T/S server in order to run a number of remote users effectively with SAFE. Again,
you get what you pay for!
If you have a large number of
remote users and want a low cost solution, with zero maintenance, and can live without the
almost like being there speed of T/S, choose ThinSAFE. It is extremely reliable
and very secure. And given enough Internet bandwidth, it's speed is quite passable for all
but the heaviest users.
Now, that said, you don't have to choose one or the other. In
fact, most of our ThinSAFE customers, actually have a mixed of thin clients. A typical mix
might include remote salespeople using ThinSAFE, while the bookkeeper or accountant, who
does lots and lots of keypunching, might be set up with Terminal Services Client.
Simple
Accounting Internet LoadBalancer!
As more and more of
you use Ollie, WebSAFE and ThinSAFE, more and more of you are demanding a way to
increase the number of users who can simultaneously run ThinSAFE or Ollie. Out of this
need was the new Load Balancing Software developed (LoadBalancer).
LoadBalancer is a very small
piece of code that allows you to set up multiple servers to run your Simple Accounting
applications across multiple servers. Once installed on your master Internet
server, LoadBalancer automatically routes each user to the server with the least amount of
activity. This extends the ability of WebSAFE, Ollie and ThinSAFE to support a virtually
unlimited number of users.
In addition to adding
performance, LoadBalancer saves money! So long as you are running a single company, you do
not pay for additional licensing fees for extending any of our applications onto
additional servers!
LoadBalancer is available
now and is priced at $1,295. To order LoadBalancer, just call (206)241-4859 or e-mail us
at sales@suntowersystems.com
Ciaran's Corner: Lot Pricing Units Of Measure!
Q: There is one thing I
really dislike about SAFE 5.01: Lot Pricing. I used to be able to hit the 'Lot' radio
button, but now with that button gone, how do I price line items as a Lot Price without
having my costs all screwed up?
A: The removal of the Unit/Lot/Pack radio buttons was greeted with almost
unanimous joy. But some of you, it turns out, really liked using them, even though the
majority of you found them to be, shall we say a bit confusing. Since the
Unit/Lot/Pack is now controlled by the U/M we strongly suggest that you create an
alternative series of Units of Measures which look similar to your current list, but which
use the Lot Type for Price/Cost.
Example:
U/M
|
Description
|
Type
|
M |
Per Thousand |
Unit |
M- |
Per Thousand |
Lot |
We like this solution
because it is consistent with one of our design goals for 5.0: Making inventory
transactions more intuitive. Previously, you could enter a sales order line item with an
'M' U/M but de-activate the U/M by using the 'Lot' button. That's great, but we were
getting calls daily asking why transactions with an 'M' U/M weren't deducting properly
from inventory! It turns out that the 'Lot' button was most often the culprit.
By creating separate, but
similar U/M ('M' vs. 'M-' you can immediately know the effect on inventory of any
transaction without having to look at another window or column on a report. And, since the
U/M do appear quite similar, so far we have received no reports of complaints from
end-users
Til next time,
---Ciaràn
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End of E-News
From The Suntower, Volume IV #7