NComputing, Citrix Targeting Enterprise Virtualization Market

education and SMB desktop virtualization

As part of the partnership, unveiled late last month at Citrix Synergy in Barcelona, the companies have married NComputing's Numo system-on-a-chip technology with HDX, a Citrix technology that optimizes graphics and multimedia performance on virtual desktops and mobile devices.

Raj Dhingra, CEO of NComputing, said the two companies are working on a reference design of HDX running on the Numo system-on-a-chip for OEMs to integrate with their thin clients, tablets and set-top boxes. Fujitsu and LG have already signed up, and expectations are that other OEMs will follow, he said.

"Enterprises that are looking at virtual computing solutions with XenDeskop or XenApp will be able to get better user experience taking advantage of our system-on-a-chip," Dhingra said in an interview.

NComputing also intends to launch an NComputing-branded "ultrathin client" with Numo and HDX in the first half of next year, according to Dhingra.

NComputing will work with Citrix salespeople and channel partners to address the needs of enterprise customers, and it's promoting the idea of an ultrathin client because innovation in the thin client market has been steadily dwindling, said Dhingra, who joined NComputing in April from Citrix.

"The typical thin client is a PC disguised in a different form factor, and the cost and complexity is the same as it is with a PC, because you're still managing an endpoint," he said.

With its Numo system-on-a-chip, NComputing is creating a new type of thin client that offloads many of the functions previously handled by software onto the hardware itself. This will translate into lower cost devices that consume less power while maintaining a high level of performance and a desktop-like user experience, said Dhingra.

Partnership with Citrix will help NComputing gain knowledge of the specific areas that enterprises have earmarked as critical when looking at desktop virtualization, Dhingra said.

"Enterprise customers are looking for features that are enterprise capable -- for example, the connection broker needs to be high performance, the virtualization software must integrate well with storage and networking, and the management console," he said.