NComputing can change the way one accesses the PCs

Do you know a single PC, even if it is an entry-level, can be shared with a multiple number of users at a time? Yes, it is possible. Shared does not mean multiple users will sit on a single PC, but with innovative technology, a single PC can share its power to run applications in a number of displays independently turning the displays into independent PCs. So, do not worry about the AMC, upgradation cost, etc. Just have the virtual desktop software and devices from NComputing and get going.

The single HDD, single RAM and an operating system of a PC can power a good number of monitors and create desktops for a number of users. The only need is to have a keyboard, mouse and the NComputing device. Today, the cost of electricity and the real state rent are going up. The users are really wondering as to how to cut down the expenses and reduce the carbon emissions on the earth. NComputing’s devices actually help all the businesses, governments, corporates and even home users to overcome this issue to an extent and reduce global warming and, at the same time, reduce overall expenses. From the nationalistic point of view, a country like India, which wants inexpensive technologies to enable its future citizens, products from NComputing can be an icing on the cake. On the other hand, a year and a half period of market slowdown also can play the bride’s best friend for the technology in the entire world.

Actually, most of the PCs believed to perform less than 5 per cent of its capacity and the rest of the capacity remains idle. Here comes a question why cannot that power be utilized by others and save expenses on all the fronts. NComputing platforms are the ideal answers.

NComputing offers two series of devices – L Series and X Series. These two devices do not have any moving parts. Therefore, they do not require maintenance, and at the same time are very reliable and consumes a fraction of power. This directly saves you a lot of money. The monitor, keyboard and other devices are connected to the small NComputing access device and the device connects to the PC directly or through Ethernet and the user of the connected PC is able to enjoy the same power that the original PC provides. This is what makes the NComputing virtualization software and the devices so user-friendly. This virtual computing platform provides the users to run his/her own applications in his/her own settings.

Manish Sharma, Vice-President, APAC, NComputing Inc., says, “Although NComuting products suit across the verticals, the buyers are more pronounced in the learning environment, schools, colleges, institutes and the corporate training centres. Even then, very strong adopters are the SMBs because these guys are focussing on their business and the computers are the tools to enable that.”

Asked about its positioning vis-a-vis the thin clients, he said, “NComputing devices have a big future because the former has a lot to do with protocols. It has limitations, especially around multimedia. But NComputing devices take care of multimedia, VoIP, etc. quite easily.” “If one looks at thin clients, those are still computers, with processors and local OS but NComputing devices are not PCs but the devices pull power of the existing PC and create multiple standalone PCs. Unlike thin clients, these devices do not add cost and complexity. Secondly, NComputing has its virtualization software, which comes bundled with the devices and at a fraction cost of what Microsoft or Citrix offers for thin clients,” he adds.

Asked about whether the popularity of notebooks can deter the growth of NComputing virtualization products. Sharma says that right computers should be for the right people. For example, if somebody is a road warrior, 90 per cent of his time he is on the road. Similarly, from the school point of view, you are subjecting the kids to small screen size for a long time. Secondly, the notebook or the netbook is the one to one product, which cannot be shared with many students. Besides, after a few years the notebooks or netbooks start malfunctioning, which needs another fresh investment from the authorities. On the other hand, NComputing devices, which help the PCs to share it with many users, they very rarely go wrong and if the PC goes wrong then it is not a huge budget to replace that one.

Sharma says, “You can have the out-of-the-box experience from our devices. You can run practically all the applications, but if there is a huge amount of graphics there should be right computers for the application.”

Even though the solutions from NComputing are great ones from the human interest, the biggest challenge for the company is awareness and availability. NComputing has been present in the country for the last two years, but they have not been able to garner much support from either industry or from the consumers. NComputings depends 100 per cent on the channel community.

For the last two years, the company has been trying to develop the resources, including logistics, distribution chain, demo-centre, test sites, etc. They have tied up with Redington as the sole national distributor and there are four regional distributors, including Prime for West market, Digital Waves for South, Origin for South and North East, and Addline for North. The company has active 250 to 300 resellers under these distributors and sub-distributors. Sharma says, “Our focus is to create relationship with them and pass on all the sales tools we have. We want the basic philosophy and strategy of the company percolate to the ground level.”

India is surely a strategic market for NComputing because of the scale of economy. Wordwide, the company has deployed 10 lakh of the units and out of these, one lakh are deployed in India. Sharma maintains, “India positions as the most aggressive and promising market for us. It is bigger than China as we moved there later than India.”

NComputing has 10 people in India, who are basically for marketing and sales. From the service perspective, NComputing products are very rugged as they do not fail frequently. As claimed by Sharma, “The failure rate is less than .02 per cent. So once installed, it works for 5–7 years. Even then, the company has a comprehensive warranty programme in place.” Sharma adds, “We have a clear RMA programme. If anything breaks down, there is a strong process for it to be replaced and repaired. Besides, our channel and our distributors also fine tune strategies for the RMA, which is complementary to our strategy.”

Complementing the role of the resellers, Sharma says, “If we have sold one lakh units in last two years’ time, now I am confident that we can sell the same volume in a single year because of our channel partners’ support.”

Finally…
Mr. Sharma wants to see at least 1-2 channel partners in each of the 2-3 cities. The company’s goal is to create relationship with those channel partners, whom they will enable with comprehensive training materials, webinars, road-shows every quarter. They want to visit each of the partners place and meet them personally and try to create them champions of NComputing.