Two decades of openthinclient – A success story in the Blackholm laboratory
🚧 Initial situation and challenges
Marco Rauhut has been Head of IT at Labor Blackholm for over 30 years and leads a team of seven employees in the areas of servers, infrastructure, security, patch management, order entry systems, and data transmission.
Back in the years 1996 to 1998, the laboratory already used serial terminals (VT100 via RS232) with purely text-based displays. The first modernisation attempt involved using Linux computers, but this was quickly replaced by thin clients from Neoware. The basic idea was promising, but the hardware proved to be unreliable. Further attempts with devices from other manufacturers such as Itona and Rangee led to three different management systems being used simultaneously in-house – an untenable situation in terms of maintenance and security.
Implementation with openthinclient
The solution eventually came with openthinclient – and it worked without any problems from the outset. All existing clients and PCs could be operated immediately using PXE boot with openthinclient. The environment has been continuously updated for over two decades, during which one thing has never changed: the stability of the solution.
Particular emphasis is placed on the simple central administration:
If a client fails, the workstation will be operational again within 30 minutes – including device replacement, changing the MAC address in the Manager, and rebooting. Configuration in the openthinclient Manager is a piece of cake.
„The longest part is going down to the cellar and getting a new thin client,“ Mr. Rauhut said, chuckling.
Technical requirements
The thin clients primarily run the laboratory software Melos from the company Lablions, executed locally as a Linux application, mounted via NFS and connected to a database. Further central applications:
- Order Entry System (Barcode Creation for Samples)
- Order entry system (input via online connection from doctor's practice and scanned paper orders)
- Fax software (due to legal requirements: approx. 1,500 faxes per day)
- Tour planning and tour monitor
- Laboratory consumables inventory management system
- Receipt tool
A large portion of the software was developed by Mr. Rauhut himself in PureBasic, which enables cross-platform compilation (Windows & Linux). The applications are deployed to the clients via the custom logic of the openthinclient server and executed locally.
Conclusion and feedback
A major advantage from an IT management perspective is security:
As the clients are booted via PXE, a fresh system is loaded after each reboot – malware cannot permanently establish itself. In terms of malware, one analyses the openthinclient server and that's it, nothing more needs to be done. Even if the solution in the Blackholm laboratory is not classically with
Terminal-Server or Citrix operates, but acts as a central management system for Linux clients, IT manager Marco Rauhut is completely satisfied:
„I would recommend openthinclient any time!“
Marco Rauhut has been IT Manager at Laboratory Blackholm for over 30 years.
Labor Blackholm MVZ GmbH
The Blackholm MVZ laboratory in Heilbronn stands for modern and precise laboratory diagnostics. An experienced team of specialist doctors and laboratory professionals offers a broad spectrum of clinical-chemical, microbiological, and molecular analyses. With digital technology and the highest quality standards, Labor Blackholm ensures reliable results and sees itself as a competent partner in the healthcare system.
