NComputing: The Energy-Efficient $70 PC
Imagine a PC unit that costs only $70 and uses as little as 1 watt of power. Sound too good to be true? Not anymore, thanks to the innovation of a California-based company called NComputing. The company creates access devices that have no CPU, memory, or moving parts. Instead, the devices connect to a central shared computer that uses NComputing’s virtualization software to share its excess processing power.
According to NComputing’s Chairman and CEO Stephen Dukker, 30 users can share a single $500 PC and still run videos, the Internet, and a host of other programs. And since the access devices don’t have any moving parts, they use 95 to 99% less energy than a traditional PC—in most cases, just 1 to 4 watts per user. That same lack of moving parts means the devices have a service life of 10 years or longer.
NComputing’s solution has been quick to catch on—in only 20 months, the company has sold over 1 million units. Not surprisingly, many of the devices have been sold to developing countries like Macedonia, India, and Bangladesh.
So will you use an NComputing device in your home anytime soon? Probably not, but don’t be surprised if they pop up in schools and offices around the world— after all, almost any organization would jump at the chance to save thousands of dollars while looking environmentally responsible.
Photo Credit: NComputing
It’s a dumb terminal then, sort of like the Bull and Wyse stuff that we used to use over twenty years ago. Does it run token ring too?
People: it’s a terminal for a mainframe. Jeez, you young people.
Could be a useful machine in the kitchen, always on and ready to go.
I too have used these in my school district. You can install up to two cards (3 stations each) in one PC expanding a single PC so that it can be used by up to 7 users simultaneously. They are not as simple as they seem, however. A few of our educational software packages are not compatible, and they bring up a lot of questions about licensing. The stations have had a few glitches and (while not the company’s fault) we’ve had situations where Windows update has caused them give errors and in one situation stop working completely. The company is also way behind in developing management software, which they promised us quite a while ago. Aside from that though, these things have saved us tons of money. Buy a decent machine, add some RAM, and you’ve got 4 CPUs that just need monitors, mice, and keyboards.
@Amauriel You CAN get 4 real full fledged computers for less than $1500; have you checked Dell etc lately? You can get a brand new Inspiron 530 starting at $279/each! Add in some coupon codes and you’re way under your the you’re citing for your NComputing terminals.
Granted the NComputing terminals will still use less power, though since you wouldn’t be running the Dell’s at 100% for most of the time if ever, but they are slim form factor as well so are quite efficient too. Plus no you have to factor in the central computer that would be running at a higher load to know if they really use less overall.
Managing the Ncomputing central server may be easier than 4 separate computers, but my gut makes me think the difference would be negligible since you’re still trying to set up the same environments for the users.
But anyway, I think the prices are far lower than you might think now a days and more comparable to these Ncomputing machines than people think.
I can see potential use, for some users, for something like this in my office, but where do I find it for $70? The lowest price I’ve seen is $135 for the unit without USB. With USB, the basement seems to be about $195 - many of our users would need USB for peripherals like PDAs and cameras. $135 is quite a bit cheaper than the price of a full-on workstation, but a bit higher than $70.
There is no such country as Macedonia. Its The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. Macedonia is a province in Greece. Therefore, you could call it FYROM or Skopje. Thought it was quite important.
I’ve worked with this before in an ActiveDirectory environment, and while the theory behind it is well meant, it is poorly implemented.
First, it does require a host machine. Not too bad, but in our environment, if two people are using that host machine, it begins to degrade the system resources (almost in half!).
Second, security rights are completely altered. This was very apparent in our AD structure, as anyone who was going to use that machine via the N-Computing terminal would need to be in the host machines’ Remote Users group. Sure, you can add the Everyone group in the Remote Users group, but if the host machine is a live, real world box, that opens up a pretty big can of worms.
Third, the installation and setup is clunky. We had a few days to work with it, and it gave the technician who was assigned to set it up a headache. Wires everywhere, no form of management, and if you didn’t use the right N-Computing box with the software that was installed, it didn’t work (we had two different demo models).
So in short, all the N-Computing modules do is allow a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to be a Citrix-like terminal to tap into one machine via the power of Remote Desktop.
no CPU? no memory? What is it? A KVM? A USB Hub?
Even my VT100 terminal used at school had a CPU and memory.
I smell the wave of hype around thin computing from 10 years ago. It was so successful then, it’s bound to succeed now.
this is very awesome