NComputing, the leading provider of virtual PC solutions, today announced the availability of its products on the open-source Ubuntu Linux operating system. Joining its Windows-based offerings, the NComputing open-source solution allows schools and businesses worldwide to deploy full virtual PC stations, complete with hardware, software, the Ubuntu operating system and the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, at unprecedented low costs by leveraging the excess power of their PCs and open-source license-free software.

This innovative solution, winner of the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for computer systems, allowed the Republic of Macedonia to fully deploy 180,000 student seats — complete with 15" monitors, shared PCs and all software (including OpenOffice.org), peripherals, installation and training – for less than 25% of the cost of the least expensive PC per-seat deployment.

Counting both Windows and Linux deployments, NComputing is already responsible for almost 5 percent of all new student seat computing purchases in United States K-12 public schools, a remarkable achievement for a company in only its second year of shipping products.

"NComputing has dramatically reduced the cost of PC computing to empower a new generation of users in underserved markets worldwide with affordable PC solutions," said Stephen Dukker, CEO and Chairman of NComputing. “Our virtual PC solutions, when combined with open-source software such as Ubuntu Linux and OpenOffice.org, are hard to beat. Macedonia may represent the largest global educational Linux rollout, but momentum is building rapidly in the US, with major Linux commitments by school districts in such locations as San Diego, Ohio, Indiana, and New York.”

“Like most school districts around the world, Macedonia’s education system has limited financial and infrastructural resources to address its need to provide all students with access to computers and technology,” said Ivo Ivanovski, Macedonia’s Minister for the Information Society. “By adopting NComputing’s low-cost virtual PC technology bundled with Ubuntu software, Macedonia is taking the lead in providing computer-based education for school children.”

The NComputing solution, available with both Linux and Windows operating systems, capitalizes on a simple fact: Today’s PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small fraction of their computing capacity. NComputing’s virtualization software taps this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by multiple users. Each user’s monitor, keyboard, and mouse are connected to a very small and highly reliable access device, which is then connected to the shared PC. The access device itself has no CPU, memory, or moving parts, and the solution is easy to deploy and maintain. NComputing systems start at $70 per seat and in the past 18 months, over 500,000 NComputing systems have been deployed around the world. 

Sourced From: Mutual Public Relations