Cruise Technologies, the leader in wireless thin client computing, today announced an Internet-enabled version of its CruiseConnect(TM) system software. The new version of CruiseConnect enables the connection of wireless thin client devices over the Internet and company-wide Intranets, expanding the breadth of wireless thin client solutions from usage within a LAN to usage throughout multiple locations across the country or around the world.

"The new features of CruiseConnect enable us to broaden the customer base benefiting from wireless thin client computing to include widely dispersed workgroups in franchised or branch locations with no on-site computing," said Chris Gladwin, president and CEO, Cruise Technologies. "This offering is particularly significant with so many companies operating multiple offices in multiple locations while still trying to maintain a centralized, consistent, secure and manageable infrastructure of applications and data."

Thin Client Computing Takes the Next Step

With these enhancements, CruiseConnect, the industry's first platform to enable server-class, wireless thin client computing, extends significant computing power to any geographically dispersed company looking to centralize computing on a server at one location and deploy wireless thin client technology to extended workgroups worldwide. The new Internet-enabled CruiseConnect now supports the use of TCP/IP as a protocol to enable a group of wireless thin client devices to connect to an application server across a WAN. The remote devices communicate wirelessly through access points at their respective sites, and across the Internet to the centralized server. Each user controls his own Windows session on that centralized server, with the display image projected back across the Internet to the wireless thin client device in each remote location. Assuming reasonable Internet speeds -- connection of at least 56 kbps -- the performance is comparable to that of a desktop PC.

The new Internet-enabled CruiseConnect features support for:

-- TCP/IP as the transport protocol;

-- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to automatically assign IP addresses from the server;

-- selecting among pre-set static IP addresses; and

-- multiple gateway or Domain Name Service (DNS) servers that enable secure operation on an Intranet.

Internet-Enabled CruiseConnect at Work

A medical organization with headquarters in Chicago and satellite office clinics in Milwaukee, St. Louis and Minneapolis, for example, could easily centralize all computers in Chicago, housing financial information, patient records and insurance claims. The other clinics -- with no on-site computing -- could access and update any of that information in real-time, using mobile thin client devices that communicate wirelessly in the satellite office, across the wired Internet, to the computers in Chicago. A doctor treating a patient in Milwaukee who wanted to verify treatment administered two years ago, could run a Windows session on the main Chicago computer from the patient's bedside using a CruiseConnect-based wireless device. Simultaneously, doctors at other clinics around the U.S. could be performing the same tasks.

"By removing the need for local servers, we see CruiseConnect as a catalyst to expand the wireless LAN marketplace," said Jeffrey Schlesinger, analyst, UBS Securities. "Cruise's thin client technology meets the cost concerns of many vertical market solutions while delivering, at the same time, the performance and processing bandwidth necessary to support a number of new applications."

Availability and Partners

The new version of CruiseConnect is immediately available to Cruise's partners. Cruise Technologies works with licensing and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners to incorporate CruiseConnect embedded thin client system software and reference designs into the wireless, handheld computing solutions these companies make, market and sell.

"Wyse has delivered a complete line of Winterm thin client devices that provide users with a wide range of choice and functionality," said Roy Graham, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Wyse Technology. "By adding TCP/IP support to CruiseConnect -- the system software in our Winterm Wireless 2930 -- Cruise has delivered on a major feature for many of our key customers."

About Cruise

Cruise Technologies, founded in February 1997, is the leading developer of wireless thin client technology. Cruise develops and markets its flagship CruiseConnect(TM) platform through OEM and licensing partners around the world, leveraging its strong core technology and patent position. CruiseConnect-based solutions are used in a broad set of industries including healthcare, government, military, manufacturing and warehousing. CruiseConnect is incorporated into thin client products including the Winterm Wireless product line from Wyse Technology and the SitePad Wireless Windows Terminal from Motorola. A spin-off from PC manufacturer Zenith Data Systems, Cruise Technologies is privately-held and headquartered near Chicago, IL. For more information, visit Cruise's web site or call 847-797-0520.

Source: Cruise Technologies