The California-based startup has installed more than two million computer “seats” worldwide in the past two years and its business is rocketing, particularly in developing countries where cash is scarce.<\/p>\n
“We are showing how the next wave of IT is going to have a profound effect on digital inclusion because it will be affordable to everyone,” NComputing chief executive Stephen Dukker told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“This technology is not a classic obsolete, hand-me-down to the developing world. This is leading-edge technology being deployed in corporations today and the foundation behind cloud computing.”<\/p>\n
NComputing builds software that takes advantage of the fact that chips in computers are far more powerful than most users need.<\/p>\n
V Space software divides processing power in computers into arrays of “virtual” machines, each linked to separate monitors and keyboards.<\/p>\n
A typical personal computer (PC) user routinely calls on about 10 percent of a machine’s computing power, according to NComputing.<\/p>\n
“We put in software that allows multiple, separate desktops to live inside a PC; the computer is shared,” Dukker said.<\/p>\n
“If a person is not a rocket scientist simulating the creation of the universe, or someone else who needs all those millions of instructions per second, most of a computer’s capability is wasted.”<\/p>\n
The latest computing technology can be put into work stations for as little as $70 per virtual machine, according to NComputing.<\/p>\n
“The NComputing model disrupts the normal value chain of the one-to-one PC business system,” said Brooke Partridge, chief executive of Vital Wave Consulting firm that specialises in technology growth in emerging markets.<\/p>\n
“It dramatically reduces the price per computing seat without compromising on performance.”<\/p>\n
While the US is NComputing’s biggest single market, more than half of its business comes from developing countries.<\/p>\n
“There are a billion people on the planet living on less than a dollar a day; they’ve got big worries on their minds that probably don’t include computers,” Partridge said.<\/p>\n
“There are a billion with wealth enough to buy their one-to-one computers. Then, there is this huge group in between that could really benefit from broad access to PCs.”<\/p>\n
Partridge sees virtual desktops working in schools, Internet cafes, government centres and other venues where people are comfortable using computers in communal spaces.<\/p>\n
“NComputing is getting some great traction in the market globally,” Partridge said.<\/p>\n
About 70 percent of NComputing’s sales have been to educational institutions, where budgets are notoriously tight.<\/p>\n
The government of Andhra Pradesh in India used NComputing to provide 1,8 million students with first-time computer access and is estimated to have saved millions of dollars in equipment, electricity, and support costs.<\/p>\n
Virtual computers use a small fraction of the electricity that would be used if each person had their own machine.<\/p>\n
NComputing feeds into local economies by buying hardware locally and training people in communities to provide support for virtual machines.<\/p>\n
Macedonia is NComputing’s single largest user, having provided virtual desktops for every public school student in the country, according to Dukker.<\/p>\n
A Khanya Project is working with NComputing to replace power-hogging, unreliable computers with virtual machines in poor towns in South Africa.<\/p>\n
“It’s very cool,” Dukker said. “Crossing the digital divide is, in fact, what we have enabled.”<\/p>\n
NComputing recently announced an alliance with Chinese PC maker Haier, which is expected to provide access to low-priced hardware.<\/p>\n
“Within the next five years economics will no longer be the barrier to participation in the information society,” Dukker said.<\/p>\n