IGEL Donates Thin Clients For Homeless Charity

German thin client specialist IGEL has got into the Christmas spirit with the news that it is donating 240 thin clients for use in the “Crisis at Christmas” initiative running in London from 19th December.

The initiative, aimed at homeless people or those without secure accommodation this Christmas, will use the devices as information stations and internet telephones at ten centres across London during the Christmas period, for approximately 2,000 homeless guests.

Good Cause

The thinking is that these thin clients will help Crisis volunteers to communicate and identify shelter for homeless people over the Christmas period, as well as allow homeless visitors to get in touch with friends and family, or use the technology to help improve their situation.

IGEL’s thin clients are part of a total IT system being provided to ‘Crisis at Christmas’ by the Aimar Foundation, which is itself a charity that was created to provide IT support to other charities. This will be the third year running that the Aimar Foundation is funding and setting up the information systems network, thanks in part to  assistance from IT companies as well as the support of volunteers, principally from Morgan Stanley.

“We are providing IT expertise, through our volunteers and equipment to enable Crisis to home, feed, clothe and advise those who, often through no fault of their own, have lost everything,” explained Terry Knott, CEO of Aimar. “It is essential that the Crisis staff can communicate effectively to provide this lifeline at this very important time of the year, when so many have nowhere else to go.”

“Those in need can also access the IT network, for additional advice and support,” Knott added. “We are very happy to help Crisis and indeed any other small charity that needs our practical and expert support, at any time of the year.”

Green Thin Clients

“IGEL has been very successful in providing thin client solutions to the charitable sector over many years and we were delighted to support the Aimar Foundation because of its great work and its association on this project with our reseller partners Intercept IT and SCC together with volunteers from our customer Morgan Stanley,” said Simon Richards, IGEL’s UK General Manager.

“The IGEL thin clients are ideal for Crisis at Christmas because they are simple and fast to set-up using our centralised management software, secure because all data is held on central servers and reliable because they have no fan or moving part,” Richards added.

In May last year, IGEL released a thin client device known as the IGEL One, which was designed for SMBs and small and home office environments, but without the need for central management.

Thin clients are often touted as a more sustainable option than traditional client server computing because the devices have greatly reduced power consumption – often doing away with the need for cooling fans for example.