Thinclients (Virtual Desktops)

NComputing is a desktop virtualization solution that allows organizations to share the power of a single PC with multiple users, where each user gets his own computing session. It reduces the need for a company to purchase full-fledged PCs for their office, thereby saving the cost of hardware, maintenance, and power consumption, among other things.

There are three series of products offered by NComputing –X-Series, M-Series, and L-Series. We reviewed the M-Series. This comes as a set of 3 units –one larger unit that connects to the main power supply and your LAN, and two smaller units that connect to the larger one over Direct Connect Ethernet cables. Each unit allows you to connect a monitor, mouse, and keyboard to it.

Cost-wise, the price per seat of a thin client deployment has dropped to the point where it is more cost-effective than normal PCs. This has been a claim that many in the thin-client industry have made in the past, but the fact is that the technology that has been developed within the past year has made it a definitive reality.

ACCESS UP-TO 100 VIRTUAL DESKTOP SESSIONS PER VSPACE SERVER

The Ncomputing L-series thin-client is a game-changing virtual desktop client device. Its sleek low-power design and form factor are easily mounted on a monitor or secured to a desk. Powered by NComputing’s Numo System on a Chip (SoC), the L-series client device costs less than any other thin- or zero-client options and is a quarter of the cost of a typical desktop PCs. With the ability to connect up to 100 user sessions to a single NComputing vSpace server, the combination provides a simple and powerful desktop virtualization solution at one-third the price of traditional alternatives.

Cost Considerations

We are assuming the solution for a 20 users environment. For this, we took one server running virtualization software in a failover cluster mode. A virtual machine was created as per the departments’ needs it was going to cater to. The vSpace Server from NComputing is installed on this virtual machine so that it acts as a standard image for all users of that department. On the server and client end following resources were used:

1. Servers config for 20 users: One server with Xeon CPUs, 24 GB Ram, and 2 TB storage
2. 20 NComputing client devices with USB keyboard and mouse (with old monitors to be used).
3. Window 2008 R2 64-bit installation CD and office applications.

1. 20 nComputing device: Rs 20 x 7000 = Rs. 1,40,000
2. 50 keyboards and mouse: Rs 20 * 450 = Rs. 9000 (monitors not included)
3. Servers: 1* Rs 70,000 = Rs. 70,000.
4. Windows 2008 R2 Standard Editions = Rs 45,000 approx.


Total approximate cost of deployment for 20 users:
Rs. 2,64,000