Split PC Workstations

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eitai2001

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Hi.

Does anyone know who makes those things you use to split one computer into like 5 or 10 workstations? I have seen them before, but forgot who does them.

It's almost like a KVM switch, except it creates like a virtual desktop for each user so it seems as though they are each running their own PC, even though they are all running off of 1. I think it allows up to 30 workstations or something.

Regards

Itai
 
No, not looking at cloud computing. Want to just turn 1 pc into a whole bunch. I found there is one product called a nComputing L230 Terminal which is up to 31 PC's and a nComputing X550 Kit which is up to 11 PC's.

Anyone know of any other similar systems?
 
I know what you mean.

@IRG - No, it's not Citrix.

It's called Time-sharing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-sharing and http://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/subsection2_69_1_3.html covers the concept more.

And it's not a recent concept - an article from 1965 shows it : http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834596,00.html


Hope this will give you some leads as to what to look for.

Tried Googling for it - too many hits. Hope this helps you in the right direction.

The free IT technology booklet which you can pick up outside news agencies and the such did an article on time sharing sometime last year - but I can't find my copy now. :(
 
eitai2001 said:
No, not looking at cloud computing. Want to just turn 1 pc into a whole bunch. I found there is one product called a nComputing L230 Terminal which is up to 31 PC's and a nComputing X550 Kit which is up to 11 PC's.

Anyone know of any other similar systems?
Click to expand...

Not at this moment.

Does it utilizes standard PC hardware?
 
eitai2001 said:
Yes, as far as I know. (No one said they'd be fast :p)
Click to expand...

:D

Maybe get a good motherboard (quad-core Xeon) with 4Gb RAM and the users won't notice the timesharing? :D

Sounds like a good idea - save on PC maintenance and costs. One PC instead of four/five/six...

Mmmmm... wonder whether you'll need more than one Windows licence, or what... (especially antivirus/office/etc as well)...
 
Yeah, all things to think about.

But if anyone knows an alternative to nComputing ... please don't be shy ;)
 
HP do a 1 to 4 config like that. Contact your HP hardware provider. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. :o
 
The_Librarian said:
The free IT technology booklet which you can pick up outside news agencies and the such did an article on time sharing sometime last year - but I can't find my copy now. :(
Click to expand...


I remember some companies advertizing it in the TechSmart magazine (http://www.techsmart.co.za/) and I think there might have been an article about it. All the magazines are online.
 
What you looking for is a Virtual Desktop (VDI) solution, of which nComputing is a small player; along with Citrix, VMWare, and Wyse. A Citrix VDI solution can be done for under 10 PCs for free, with the following configuration:

1 x PC/Server running XenServer, to host apps (Free)
1 x Desktop Controller server (can be installed on existing Windows 2003 server)
10 x XenDesktop Licenses
10 x HP/Wyse Clients (R2300 - R10 000, depending on the model).

VDI is a good solution, but it does have pitfalls. The biggest is that you need to provision a full desktop, including OS on a server. Each Guest OS requires a RAM. Assuming you were to use Windows XP, then you would need 1GB per OS = 10GB RAM on your VDI host.

Perhaps you should look at Application virtualisation, i.e. have one server, with one OS, and provision applications to Thin clients. It is easier to manage, and requires less hardware?
 
Conradl said:
What you looking for is a Virtual Desktop (VDI) solution, of which nComputing is a small player; along with Citrix, VMWare, and Wyse. A Citrix VDI solution can be done for under 10 PCs for free, with the following configuration:

1 x PC/Server running XenServer, to host apps (Free)
1 x Desktop Controller server (can be installed on existing Windows 2003 server)
10 x XenDesktop Licenses
10 x HP/Wyse Clients (R2300 - R10 000, depending on the model).

VDI is a good solution, but it does have pitfalls. The biggest is that you need to provision a full desktop, including OS on a server. Each Guest OS requires a RAM. Assuming you were to use Windows XP, then you would need 1GB per OS = 10GB RAM on your VDI host.

Perhaps you should look at Application virtualisation, i.e. have one server, with one OS, and provision applications to Thin clients. It is easier to manage, and requires less hardware?
Click to expand...

But that nComputing thing ... doesn't it use 1 PC, with a type of KVM switch per PC instead of a thin client?
 
The_Librarian said:
:D

Maybe get a good motherboard (quad-core Xeon) with 4Gb RAM and the users won't notice the timesharing? :D

Sounds like a good idea - save on PC maintenance and costs. One PC instead of four/five/six...

Mmmmm... wonder whether you'll need more than one Windows licence, or what... (especially antivirus/office/etc as well)...
Click to expand...

VDI licensing would require:

1 x XP license per VM
1 x Windows 2003 license per VM (or per user, if connecting to a domain)
1 x AV license per VM
1 x Office License per VM

Virtual Applications:

1 x TSCAL/Citrix CAL per user
1 x Windows 2003 License per user if on a domain
1 x AV per server
1 x Office license per user

Application Virtualisation is a type of time-sharing, in that multiple users share a certain amount of processing cycles on a server. VDI, can be used to dedicate a processor per VM (or you could share, depending on your requirements).
 
eitai2001 said:
But that nComputing thing ... doesn't it use 1 PC, with a type of KVM switch per PC instead of a thin client?
Click to expand...

No, the terminal is a thin client that connects directly to the PCI card in the host PC via Ethernet.
 
Oh ok. But the advantage of the nComputing is you pay from 895 per user (obviously excluding keyboard mouse and screen) ... but this includes the thin client right? Because buying the HP at 2300 becomes a bit costly. Are there any other similar priced solutions to the nComputing. And perhaps soemthing fairly easy to manage?
 
eitai2001 said:
Oh ok. But the advantage of the nComputing is you pay from 895 per user (obviously excluding keyboard mouse and screen) ... but this includes the thin client right? Because buying the HP at 2300 becomes a bit costly. Are there any other similar priced solutions to the nComputing. And perhaps soemthing fairly easy to manage?
Click to expand...

AFAIK there is nothing else on the market that could compete on price! If you looking for a really basic solution that is easy to manage, then nComputing is a solid offering. Just watch out for their licensing - it violates a few (maybe even all :)) MS licensing conditions....
 
Conradl said:
AFAIK there is nothing else on the market that could compete on price! If you looking for a really basic solution that is easy to manage, then nComputing is a solid offering. Just watch out for their licensing - it violates a few (maybe even all :)) MS licensing conditions....
Click to expand...

Lol, ok cool ... thanks :)
 
Quick question, don't you have old PCs lying around?? NIC, HDD/USB/CDROM, P2/3/4, 128MB RAM and Linux - you have a cheap Thin Client that will run Office 2010 at full speed? Free XenDesktop/XenServer, the solution won't cost you a cent....
 
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