Traditionally, highwaylocationpractice has been field oriented, that is, the bulkof the location party's timeandeffort went to measurement and observation "onthe ground".
Putting the bulk of computing and storage in the data center has other perks for IT management: It creates a centralized location for software upgrades across an entire organization and puts a layer of network security between users and sensitive data--a lost thin client laptop, for instance, doesn't contain private information, and so doesn't pose a threat of causing a data breach.