NComputing gets in the chip game
NComputing, the virtualization company run by former eMachines CEO Stephen Dukker, is now in the chip game.
The company said Friday that its $20 Numo chip will allow a variety of uses, from TVs that can access the Web to the creation of new kinds of terminals for businesses that can remotely access Windows or Linux.
NComputing already offers its own line of products that let a single PC or server power multiple computing experiences. The approach has gotten some traction, especially in the cash-strapped education space as well as in emerging markets.
With Numo, device makers can add similar abilities to devices like thin clients, monitors, and televisions, NComputing said.
"We continue to drive innovation into the market to bring the cost of clients closer to zero,"" Dukker said in a press release announcing Numo.. "Our technology has created disruptive economics for the desktop while delivering a rich multimedia experience to education, enterprise, and now consumer users."
NComputing said Numo-based devices will also have the option of running Android locally for added power. Numo itself is a dual-core ARM-based chip with embedded media processors.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Korea's LG showed a prototype network monitor using the Numo chip--actually, 31 such monitors, all running off a single PC as the server. The 31 users were simultaneously computing, using Windows Server and NComputing's VSpace software.
NComputing said it will show Numo-powered devices at the Interop trade show in April and will announce more partners this summer "including industry-leading PC, monitor, and TV manufacturers." Virtual desktop clients from NComputing and others will start being available in the second quarter, it said.
The company also said it plans to support the RemoteFX virtualization technology that Microsoft announced on Thursday.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
NComputing's X300 line of devices that allows for 3 terminal + 1 host session on a single XP box is utter crap, and takes the XP EULA and just shreds it to pieces. Not only is the system unreliable, but because of how it functions, it completely breaks the license of the local box.
XP's never allowed multiple terminal licenses. Server 2003 allows it, by purchasing terminal services CALs, but NComputing's terminal units are essentially DESIGNED to break the EULA. I've never completely understood how they get away with it, or why Microsoft hasn't tried to torpedo thier operations. I always just assumed they were to small.
For those who aren't familiar with thier products, the core of thier product lines require the installation of a PCI card that then has connections for a certain number of VGA/PS2/USB/Audio adapters. The hardware, combined with a software component, creates additional terminal sessions on the XP box that each of these adapters can use. With the X300 series, you essentially turn a single computer into 4 seats. 1 at the host, and 3 more from the 3 adapters the device provides. It destroys the XP licensing agreement by providing access to a single copy of XP 3 times. They are quite buggy, and you cannot patch the machine, as MS patches frequently break the functionality of the device. They tend to lag about a half of a year behind in support for the MS patches.
I work for a district that has about 8 of these, all purchased before I arrived here. The district is currently in the midst of an IT overhaul, and every single one of these units is being retired.
OTOH, they cost a whole lot less per unit, and do the job pretty well for the price range.
- by reic_odoi August 17, 2010 12:27 PM PDT
- please can anyone help me,i have updated my ncomputing, but when i restart the terminal is given me a blank display,asking to restart the utma device.
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