Cloud-Ready Thin Client For Windows
NComputing has delivered more than 3 million low-cost thin clients worldwide. Our latest, the RX300, is built for productivity using the latest Raspberry Pi 3 platform.
Designed and optimized specifically for NComputing’s award-winning vSpace Pro desktop virtualization solution, the RX300 is cloud-ready and provides a rich PC-like experience. RX300 features full-screen, full-motion HD multimedia playback with vCAST direct streaming technology support, built-in transparent USB redirection achieving unparalleled peripheral support, WiFi, and optional access to Linux Raspbian OS managed by the IT admin.
The RX300 provides a simple-to-deploy, centrally managed, high-performance virtual desktop, perfect for use in SMB and education.
DELIVER THE LATEST WINDOWS DESKTOP EXPERIENCE
Fully optimized for vSpace Pro 10, RX300 delivers virtual desktops from 9 popular Windows operating systems, including Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.
CLOUD-READY WITH VCAST STREAMING SUPPORT
vCAST reduces the overall server-side CPU usage when watching web videos like YouTube or your local media content without the need for expensive GPUs. This allows for higher quality media streaming utilizing network bandwidth without CPU bottlenecks, thereby supporting more concurrent users.
CENTRALIZED MANAGEMENT & EXPRESS DEPLOYMENT
The RX300 is easy to configure and automatically receives updates from deployed vSpace Pro 10 servers. Administrators may define a device template with all settings and configurations, then clone and push it to new devices. All can be centrally managed and provisioned by the IT admin with vSpace Pro, allowing control of hundreds of RX300 devices with just a few clicks. Users are always up-to-date with the latest technology.
BROAD USB PERIPHERAL SUPPORT
With integrated transparent USB redirection, RX300 utilizes device drivers from the server side to provide extensive peripheral support including mass storage, printers, scanners, card readers, headsets or speakers, webcams, and COM ports in addition to the standard keyboard and mouse.
DUAL MONITOR DISPLAY CAPABILITY
With secondary display capability via NComputing's USB dongle (VGA or DVI) there is added screen real-estate for increased productivity.
We are excited to announce the launch of vSpace Guardian. It is a category-based web filtering service, designed to let you manage, control and monitor the internet experience by using 70 pre-defined categories that selectively block over 140 million websites.
With seamless automatic updates, NComputing vSpace Guardian ensures that you are up-to-date. The predefined policy categories are constantly updated with new websites such as social media, gaming, adult content and other malicious sites.
So what sparked the idea of vSpace Guardian?
As CEO of NComputing, what I enjoy about my job is having the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life and how they use technology to make a difference in their lives. I would frequently get asked one question–How can I protect the computing environment for their kids or employees so they may thrive in a digital world inherent with risk?
This got me to thinking how the innovative usage of the internet has given opportunities to businesses and schools to be smarter and well-connected, but not without its own set of challenges.
In today’s world, the internet is like the wild west. Children have accessibility to content that parents could never have imagined. It has become imperative that parents make sure that their kids spend time constructively and shield them from inappropriate websites.
And as I have spoken to people from businesses, I realized many good reasons to monitor internet usage. To begin with, accessibility to time-hogging websites such as social media and gaming websites can impact employee productivity. And if this was not enough, work-related internet activity could be dangerous to the network because of web threats. In addition, accessibility to bandwidth-hogging websites can lead to slow access to mission-critical applications such as CRMs and corporate email.
Source: NComputing
NComputing 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.
"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.
Source: Info World
NComputing takes different approach to desktop virtualization, combining low-overhead OS virtualization and proprietary hardware client
NComputing is the only VDI solution of the three reviewed that provides its own virtualization layer -- no VMware, Citrix, or Microsoft hypervisor required. NComputing's vSpace is a virtualization application with an ultrasmall footprint that runs on any Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host operating system. Much like Terminal Services, it carves up the underlying system's resources among multiple users, allowing a single computer to host as many as 30 simultaneous desktops. Performance on a LAN was excellent, but the NComputing solution suffered some performance issues over a WAN.
Because vSpace is so low-overhead and well-optimized, it doesn't require the latest in server virtualization technology to handle multiple users. For instance, an off-the-shelf desktop PC with 4GB of RAM and a decent CPU can host up to 30 simultaneous clients on Windows XP Pro. This does not mean that a group of engineers can all run AutoCAD on this host, but normal everyday business apps, like word processing and email, will have little trouble. (See InfoWorld's "Thin Client Computing Deep Dive Report" for more on Terminal Services and thin clients.)
One downside to the NComputing solution, as with Pano Logic, is that it works with the vendor's proprietary access devices only. There is no support for third-party thin clients, software clients on laptops, or Web-based remote access. The L-Series client devices -- I tested the paperweight-sized L300 -- are stand-alone Ethernet-enabled devices that require only a VGA monitor and USB keyboard and mouse. There are no moving parts in the L300 -- no noisy fans or spinning hard drives. The L300 comes with two USB 2.0 ports for remote devices, two USB 2.0 ports for keyboard and mouse, 1/8-inch microphone and speaker jacks, a 10/100Mbps Ethernet port, and a standard DB15 VGA port. It is powered by a 12V DC power brick. Power consumption never exceeded 5W.
NComputing performance and scalability
During my tests, I had 10 L300 endpoints connected to an older Xeon-based Windows Server 2003 host (4GB of RAM) with Microsoft Office 2003, IE 8, and Windows Media Player installed. I had no trouble browsing the Web or doing basic office tasks with all clients connected. Even media playback, from either Windows Media Player or YouTube, was handled with no discernable issues. Server resource statistics on my host system showed that the guest VMs played a minimal role in resource utilization. I feel that NComputing's claim that a server only needs 4GB of RAM to host 30 simultaneous users is probably right on.
An obvious concern is scalability, as many deployments will need to scale beyond a few dozen users. This could be accomplished by combining vSpace with "traditional" virtualization -- that is, running virtualized vSpace servers on a hypervisor such as VMware, Hyper-V, or XenServer. By deploying vSpace in multiple virtual machines and load balancing across multiple servers, you could not only support hundreds of users but also bring fault tolerance to the system. I tested this successfully by turning up a Windows Server 2003 virtual server with vSpace installed on VMware ESX 4.1. My L300 clients connected with ease and didn't treat the virtualized server any differently from the physical one.
Source: Info World
We are extremely excited to announce NComputing vSpace Pro10 is finally available for public release.
Guided by your valuable feedback and our goal to deliver true PC desktop experience, we decided it was time to go back to the drawing board with our engineering teams. While our patented and award-winning vSpace Server is invaluable, we knew we could make it better. Today, we’re happy to announce that we have accomplished that goal.
With growing business challenges, IT needs to be more agile and not just as an enabler, but as a differentiator from the competition. Keeping this mind, we vSpace Pro10 would enable that differentiation with its improved performance, reliability, and quality of connected sessions giving the users the best possible PC like experience as a fraction of a cost. It is a completely reimagined platform right from the basics.
Fresh new look, powerful new features
End to End Turnkey Solution
With NComptuing vSpace Pro 10, we are introducing a cloud-based management portal. Accessible from any browser, it's a one-stop solution that will accelerate your workflow productivity by giving you the ability to monitor software licenses, premium features and new device purchases deployed across to your vSpace Server environment.
vSpace Pro10 will help you mine critical data faster and better by having improved accessibility and visibility into your assets and user information. Read more...
