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NComputing puts excess PC power to good use
Filed under: Thin clients

Thin green clientNComputing CEO Steve Dukker doesn't just subscribe to the belief that the average PC packs more processing power than the average end-user needs; he's built his company's product line of virtual PCs around it.

"I'm not saying that the PC is dead, [but] there's a very large portion of the market that has no need for basically 80 to 90 percent of the power that's delivered in today's desktop," he says.

An evolution of the thin client model (which I deem a viable green alternative to desktops), NComputing's technology enables as many as 30 users to simultaneously run virtualized Windows or Linux desktop sessions from a single standard PC. This approach can save an organization the expense of equipping end-users with average-priced $500 machines -- each of which consumes an average of 280 watts of energy. Rather, shops running NComputing's devices pay as little as $70 per seat, and each one draws as little as one watt of power, according to the company. For companies struggling to keep their energy bills and carbon emissions down, every watt is precious.

I should note that an organization isn't tied to using a PC as a host. Like other thin clients, NComputing's devices work with servers. But the notion of running a couple dozen desktop sessions from a spare desktop is, as they say in Boston, wicked cool -- and a particularly excellent model of sustainability. Moreover, even the higher-end NComputing devices run on just around five watts of power each, which is downright green, too.

Here's how it works: NComputing virtualization software is loaded onto a standard Windows or Linux PC or server, which acts as the shared host machine. Each user's monitor, keyboard, and mouse plug in to a small NComputing access device, which connects to the host using NComputing's home-grown User eXtension Protocol (UXP).

According to NComputing, users working on the terminals can seamlessly and simultaneously share nearly all applications residing on the host machine, including Web browsers, IM programs, office apps, and basic multimedia applications, such as streaming video and Flash. (High-end 3-D games and 3-D design apps are out.) For network applications, UXP features 128-bit encryption to ensure strong security

The access devices come in two flavors. On the lower end is the X300, which connects directly to the host computer via a standard Cat 6 cable that can be up to 10 meters (33 feet) long. One X300 kit enables an admin to add three users to an existing PC; with two kits, up to seven users can share a PC, with six users connected through the kits and one working directly on the host.

NComputing's higher-end alternative is the L-Series. The L-Series access terminals connect to the host PC via Ethernet, which means there's no 10-meter cable constraints. These machines can support more simultaneous users than the X-Series; a PC running a desktop OS (for example, Windows XP) can support up to 10 users. Server operating systems (such as Windows 2003 Server or Linux) can support up to 30 simultaneous users, according to NComputing.

L-Series features include a couple of choices. The highest-end offering here is the L230, which includes 24-bit graphic support, a mic port, and USB memory-device support.

One the software side, NComputing has developed its own virtually platform-agnostic terminal services software, which divides the computer's resources into independent sessions that give each user their own full PC experience. However, the solution is compatible with rival offerings such as Windows Terminal Services, VMware, or Citrix.

Additionally, the company provides NControl and NShield for managing the overall system. NControl allows IT admins to remotely monitor users from a single station; admins also can take control of users' computing environments, be it for remote support or security purposes. One master host PC can be configured specifically for managing as many as 128 simultaneous sessions.

NShield enables recovery of a previously stored backup of a host machine's hard disk via a manual or automatic reboot.

Thus far, NComputing has made inroads in education, SMB, and manufacturing markets, both in the United States and abroad. The company claims to have deployed more than 500,000 seats in more than 80 countries over the past 18 months. At a World Trade Organization conference, for example, the company was able to set up 500 workstations running on 200 PCs, an approach that cut electrical use by 95 percent and acquisition costs by 80 percent.

California-based Valley Yellow Pages, meanwhile, set up its 500 account executives, spread out around 45 offices, with NComputing terminals. The implementation required just one host PC per office.

The benefits here for cash-strapped education or SMB markets in particular are evident. Time will tell, of course, whether more large companies will be game to trade in some or all of their high-end PCs for thin clients, whether from NComputing, Wyse, or any other vendor. The outlook is good, though: IDC predicts 20 percent year-over-year growth in thin client adoption.
Posted by Ted Samson on February 14, 2008 03:00 AM