Definition: Terminal Services

A multiuser, thin client environment for Windows servers from Microsoft. Introduced in Windows NT 4.0 in 1996, as of the 2009 launch of Windows Server 2008 R2, Terminal Services became part of Remote Desktop Services (RDS), and specifically, the "shared sessions" method in RDS (see Remote Desktop Services).

Like the days of mainframes, Terminal Services supports multiple users connected to a central computer. The user's machine can be a fully loaded PC, bare-bones PC or dedicated terminal, all of which function as input/output (I/O) terminals and share the same OS and applications running in the server. Terminal Services uses Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to govern keyboard, mouse and screen transfer. See thin client and centralized processing.

Terminal Services Use RDP and ICA Protocols

Microsoft's Terminal Services use the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Citrix's XenApp, which adds various enhancements, transfers keyboard, mouse and screen data between the clients and servers using the Citrix ICA protocol. See Citrix XenApp.