PC alternative finds SA market

By Leon Engelbrecht, ITWeb senior writer

Johannesburg, 23 May 2008

Desktop virtualisation in cluster environments is becoming an accepted low-cost alternative to PCs, says NCSolutions MD Sean Owen-Jones.

He is the South African channel partner to US-based NComputing, which is punting "virtual client" devices and has sold 600 000 seats in 18 months.

Owen-Jones says he has, to date, sold 6 500 seats in SA, of which 4 500 are in Western Cape schools.

Globally, NComputing has done well in education and manufacturing, but Owen-Jones says the virtual client devices are ideal for small and medium businesses (SMB), as well as contact, training and administration centres because they are cheap to buy and cheaper to run.

"If you look at the pricing, they go at about R750 a seat; you can't buy a PC for that price," he says. Each seat, consisting of a monitor, keyboard and mouse, only consumes a watt of power, making it one of the most power-efficient IT solutions available today, adds Owen-Jones.

It has been calculated that the NComputing baseline X300 solution, which shares the computing power of one PC between a maximum of seven people, uses 95% less power than a PC.

Owen-Jones says the solution is also easy to install and several doctors, lawyers and estate agents, who have purchased the technology, installed it themselves.

"It is good for SMBs because it allows people starting their own businesses to save money. Their biggest cost is setting up an office with furniture, phones and the like. If they employ four people, they also need four PCs. With this solution they can all share one, quartering the IT bill."

Too good to be true?

He concedes he has lost some sales because the solution or the price sounded too good to be true or sounded too outlandish. He says this is "always a problem when introducing a new technology".

Desktop virtualisation also requires a mind-shift, or at least a passing acquaintance with mainframe computing. "This is about virtualisation. They see it is a dumb device and then assume it is a thin client. Yes it is, it is a very thin client, in fact. We call it a virtual client because 'virtual' gives the name of the underlying technology.

"Traditional thin clients come with a processor and embedded operating system and they cost as much or more than a PC. That's why it hasn't taken off. It's a brilliant concept to put everything on a server and then manage a single box.

"We've moved everything off the desktop and work in a virtual environment. Whatever the operating system on the PC or server - Windows or Linux - that is what we push through to the user terminal via our terminal and virtualisation software. So, the trick is not in the hardware, it is in our software," explains Owen-Jones.

SA users

The Western Cape education department's Khanya project is currently SA's leading virtual client user and adds about a 100 seats a month, says Owen-Jones.

Other local users include First National Bank's home loans division; McCarthy Group, the motor retailer; several Ekurhuleni municipal libraries; Outsurance; Accsys, BAE Systems, Engen and the University of Namibia, where it has 100 seats. Outsurance has 10 seats and has ordered 75 more, says Owen-Jones.

In addition, NCSolutions is now on the De Beers vendors list and its new trailer-mounted and in-store Internet kiosks are attracting attention from Old Mutual, JD Group and Metlife.

Further afield, NCSolutions has had success in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Kenya. NComputing CEO Stephen Dukker says his company also has channel partners in Ghana and Ethiopia.