Wyse director of corporate marketing David Rand, who cited customer demand, claimed Rapport is the only software that scales to tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of clients so now Neoware, whose own ezRemote Manager software isn't as scaleable, will be able to go after global accounts of 20,000 or 30,000 seats.

Neoware CEO Michael Kantrowitz says that's bunkum. "Neoware's customers include the largest global enterprises who manage tens of thousands of Neoware and IBM thin clients in the most demanding environments. The quality and ease-of-use of Neoware's management software is one of the primary reasons why Neoware has gained market share against Wyse in the last several years, he said.

Neoware issued a formal statement labeling Wyse's announcement "misleading." Wyse, it said, got no help from Neoware, Wyse's work is reversed-engineered, not licensed, Wyse can't guarantee its software works on all Neoware's Linux thin clients, or that its stuff will work with most of Neoware's installed base.

Neoware, which has just introduced new full-featured Linux thin clients, said Wyse has had no access to new NeoLinux code before release and warned that the normal evolution of NeoLinux code is likely to break the reverse-engineered Wyse support.

Neoware also said paying Wyse an extra $30-$50 per device to manage Neoware clients was a waste on money since Neoware's bundled software and Neoware software does 90% more than Rapport. "All that Wyse is providing is the ability to configure network settings of Neoware thin clients," Neoware said.

Neoware attached a long list of functions Rapport can't offer Neoware thin clients beginning with the ability to distribute software releases and bug fixes, which Neoware describes as the most important function of remote management.

According to Neoware, customers have asked it to support Wyse thin clients in ezRemote, but it wouldn't think of such a thing without access to Wyse's IP. Without it, it couldn't guarantee ezRemote would work. It says of Wyse, "We believe it is irresponsible to promote a management product that customers cannot rely on."

Wyse has been expanding Rapport's universe, as it said it would, and the stuff has gone from managing Wyse's own hardware to HP's to some of the corporate Palm and PocketPC widgetry. Neoware was simply next on the list, Rand said.

Wyse said Neoware's Windows XP Embedded and CE units were also on the list but Wyse wasn't sure when it would support the stuff. It went with the Linux gear because Linux is the most rapidly growing environment.

In the last four quarters Neoware has reportedly shipped roughly 87,500 Linux units, Wyse said.

The Wyse widgetry offers asset management, tracking, reporting, real-time device information, SQL support, reportedly better bandwidth optimization to minimize network traffic and increased authentication and encryption capabilities. The agent work was reportedly a joint development of Wyse and its new Linux business unit.

Ultimately, Neoware tried to turn Wyse's support into an acknowledgement that Neoware's products are the best on the market.

IDC says Wyse owned 53.4% of the US market and 25% of the European market last year. It had 21.1% of Asia-Pacific in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Transmeta, whose chips underlie HP's homegrown thin clients which replaced Wyse equipment - HP dumped it - has gotten Taiwan-based TECO Electric and Machinery Company as a design-win for the TECO TR5670-XPe thin client. It runs on Windows XP Embedded, hence its name.

• Neoware Hires ex-SAP Biggie
• Wyse and Neoware Divvy Up Thin Client Market
• Wyse Chases Linux Market