Ultra Light Client (ULC) supports the deployment of applications with very lightweight clients. It enables centralization of system maintenance and administration, decreasing the cost of desktop management.
ULC is designed to run applications on a centrally controlled application server. Only the presentation portion of an application is run on the end-user's desktop. Presentation is implemented as a universal user interface engine (UI Engine). Because no application-specific code is run on the client, there is no need for application-specific administration of the desktop machine.
An application communicates with the UI Engine through a high-level user interface protocol. This protocol is designed to scale down to low-bandwidth thin-pipe communication links. ULC shields you from this protocol; all distribution is handled behind the scenes.
You develop ULC applications using conventional programming languages like Java and Smalltalk. Use of heterogeneous technologies (HTML, plug-ins, or JavaScript) is not required. This improves both robustness and ease of development. ULC uses communication infrastructures from Server Smalltalk: TCP or IIOP. For visually constructing ULC user interfaces, you use the Composition Editor.