Dear Readers,
This blog covers the topic of how can an organization save IT infrastructure setup costs for any office which are small and medium sized and this blog will cover topics about desktop virtualization solutions from NComputing.
Introduction:
The total cost of ownership(TCO) is as given below
The first scenario is for traditional setup where each user has his/her individual CPU.The total costs involved in this scenario right from setup till 5 to 8 years are given for 5 user setup.
The second scenario is given for NComputing devices with costs involved right from setup till 5 to 8 years costs.Thus this section will demonstrate how much can a organization save using NComputing technology
Running cost for the setup for 5 years
Condition B: Power consumption
How much watts each computers consume: 100 to 140 watts(around 180-200 watts if you are using CRT monitor)
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
Considering energy efficient LED monitors along with CPUs, total units consumed 7 units per day
210 units in a month only on PC's(Lighting used in company is not considered)
In India,average cost per unit is around 7 rupees hence 5 PC's will cost around 1470 rupees per month thus it will cost 17,600 rupees a year on 5 PCs.
Thus for 5 years,average of 90,000 will be spent on electricity bill by 5 PCs
Condition C: Annual Maintainence contract for 5 PCs
How much is the AMC cost for 5 PCs: Consider it to be 2000 INR for 1 PC per year
I will be 10,000 per year
50,000 INR for 5 years
Thus for 5 years,average of 50,000 will be spent on maintaining 5 PCs
Thus adding all the three conditions above a total of 3,30,000 INR is spent on 5 PCs in 5 years
Assuming that a life of PC is 5 year(according to developed countries where a PC is disposed every 5 year)
This same cycle will continue for 5 years
TCO figures with NComputing devices
In X series,X550 for 5 users setup goes to approx 1,00,000 INR thus more saving if it is a single room office
Running cost for the setup for 5 years
Condition B: Power consumption
How much watts 1 PC consume: 100 to 140 watts(around 180-200 watts if you are using CRT monitor)
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
How much watts 1 NComputing device consume: 1 to 5 watts
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
Considering energy efficient LED monitors along with CPUs, total units consumed 1.65 to 2 units per day
60 units in a month only on PC's(Lighting used in company is not considered)
In India,average cost per unit is around 7 rupees hence 5 PC's will cost around 420 rupees per month thus it will cost 5040 rupees a year on 5 PCs.
Thus for 5 years,average of 25,200 will be spent on electricity bill by 5 PCs
Condition C: Annual Maintainence contract for NComputing setup
How much is the AMC cost for 1 PC: Consider it to be 2000 INR for 1 PC per year plus technical support service charges whenever service needed.
10,000 INR for 5 years
Thus for 5 years,average of 10,000 will be spent on maintaining 5 PCs
Thus adding all the three conditions above a total of 1,50,000 INR is spent on 5 PCs in 5 years
Assuming that a life of PC is 5 year(according to developed countries where a PC is disposed every 5 year)
Life of NComputing is 8 years hence after 5 years,user only has to replace the shared PC and after 3 more years,the user may have to replace the 5 NComputing devices
Thus after 8 years
Total cost on NComputing setup spent will be around 2,30,000 INR
Whereas total cost after 8 years in case of tradition 1 cpu per user total costs incurred will be 5,03,000 INR
Thus you can clearly see that
NComputing reduces your initial setup cost by around 30%
Saves your electricity to upto 70% per year
Saves maintainence cost by around 80%
Thus on an average,in 5 to 8 years,you save around 60% of your total costs involved in a traditional setup
Cost of NComputing devices
X Series
X550:14,500 rupees(This kit includes a Card,5 terminal devices and VSpace software license)
Installation charges 1000 INR
**** The prices mentioned above are current prices.They are subject to change as per market conditions
Thus from the above small example you can see clearly that you save almost 30% on initial infrastructure cost and in future, you save a lot of costs due to electricity and also reduce e-waste hence huge savings upto 60%.
AND THE MORE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT BY DOING THIS SHARING,THERE IS NO EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE.
Performance is guaranteed
Also NComputing devices have 3 years replacement warranty
******Updated Blog*************************
Newly added description of NComputing M series
Background:
Commonly used NComputing devices are X series (X-550 for 5 users and X-350 for 3 users)
X series are PCI slot based wherein we need to insert this device into PCI slot and from this card, we need to connect client terminals by means of LAN cables
The fact is that now PCI slots will be discarded in coming times. Infact Dell desktops available in countries like Singapore,Hongkong doesnt have PCI slots on their motherboards and other manufacturers also to do the same thing in forthcoming period
Thus NComputing came up with M series devices
Features
1) No PCI slot required.Only ethernet based connectivity through switches
2) M-300 features Numo2** SOC(Silicon on Chip) which features better video streaming without excessive host side processing
3) 24 bit video support
4) One PC can host upto max 45 client terminals
M300 is ideal for
Classroms, Labs, Libraries, Small offices
Numo2
It is a technique that offers HD quality video support and consuming less amount of resources on host PC thus creating no additional performance impact on the host PC
NComputing has achieved this by use of Video Scalar Hardware on this M300 device that can scale any type of video stream at no performance cost
The main advantage of NComputing is that its implementation approach is kept very simple and thus the cost of complexity is saved
Reason behind this is that when you purchase one NComputing kit, you get everything in it and the user doesnt have to go for any additional components like hypervisors (Citrix/VMWare etc)
VSpace software is included in the nComputing kit which itself is enough for a simple setup.When the infrastructure setup gets more complex,we can configure this VSpace with other hypervisors if necesscary
Comparable products to nComputing available in markets:
There are many available but here is comparison of one popular product called Citrus virtual terminal
Advantages:- This device is compact and has got its own storage devices and processor and Operating system
Disadvantages:- its cost
Though it is having superior performance but it has a seperate OS(Linux/Windows based) thus having cost of licensing involved.So instead of going for this device,it is better to have a seperate desktop because difference between cost of this device and a desktop is not too much.
Summary
Thus with nComputing devices,there is lot of flexibility involved along with no performance impact, affordable cost, good ROI in long term and simple to implement and maintain
Definately there are many advantages of going for this technology called Desktop virtualization
This blog covers the topic of how can an organization save IT infrastructure setup costs for any office which are small and medium sized and this blog will cover topics about desktop virtualization solutions from NComputing.
Introduction:
Basically while setting up an IT infrastructure,there are huge costs of hardware and softwares involved and till now to reduce this cost was not in the hands of the customer but now since virtualization is gaining popularity in market,one new technology perspective in form of desktop virtualization comes to the rescue of customers when it comes to allocating budget for IT infrastructure setup of an organization .There are hardware devices from NComputing available in market which are cost effective and are value for money for any organization when it comes to saving costs involved in IT infrastructure setup.
Details of topics covered in this blog are
A brief overview of NComputing devices
Where do the NComputing devices fits
Which NComputing device for what scenario
How to install and configure a NComputing device
Total cost of ownership figures and a sample demo of how much can a organization can save if they opt to go for NComputing.
Details of topics covered in this blog are
A brief overview of NComputing devices
Where do the NComputing devices fits
Which NComputing device for what scenario
How to install and configure a NComputing device
Total cost of ownership figures and a sample demo of how much can a organization can save if they opt to go for NComputing.
Why Desktop Virtualization?
Basically organizations having front office/Admin/Library/Facilities management desk services or firms like Data Entry, Medical transcriptions, Sales and marketing offices, Chartered Accountant firms,Factories,Schools,colleges,hospitals,small start-up to mid size call centers etc will find this technology very beneficial and there is nothing much complex in this technology to understand .
The simple concept is,we need to share the computing resources within the users of the organization so that there is less wastage of resources
Reason to do this sharing is maximum utilization of computing resources. As per experience till date, it is observed that a average user utilizes maximum 5 to 10% of CPU resources and remaining 90% is sheer wastage.
Here is an solution from NComputing for desktop virtualization.
There are variety of hardware devices available from NComputing to suit the needs of the organization.
In simple terms,there is nothing much to explain about sharing resources
There is a simple solution given by NComputing to avoid wastage of computing resources.The solution is as follows
instead of giving each desktop user a single CPU, one single CPU has been shared between multiple users.Hardware devices from NComputing allows you to do this very easily.
So instead of going for multiple CPU's,the customer can opt for just one high performance CPU which will be the server and say 5/10/25 or even 50 users having only keyboard+Mouse+Monitor at their end and sharing that CPU resources
Also with these devices,the customer will get a licensed copy of VSpace software
VSpace software is installed on the shared CPU and it manages communication between the clients and server,manage sessions of users through a protocol called User Extension protocol(UEXP)
so just imagine that if this single CPU can be shared between 5/10 users or even more so that you can utilize the CPU to its maximum plus you save too much cost involved in setting up an IT infrastructure.
One small example of 5 users with NComputing:
Case:A small library which wants to setup their IT infrastructure for their customers to browse pdf books which are shared on a common location plus it wants to give limited internet facility to its users inside their premises
I am Just giving a short example say a library wants to setup 5 desktop computers but say users in library just surf the internet/read a Word Doc/PDF file and nothing much is done hence instead of 5 CPU,5 Monitors,5 Keyboard mouse you will just require a single CPU and 5 monitors,5 keyboard Mouse thus you yourself see how much cost is saved in setting an infrastructure. It takes hardly 2 hours to do all this setup as compared to time required earlier plus you save cost of 5 CPUs thus if you calculate the cost, you will find that you almost save around 50% cost in Hardware infrastructure.
I gave one small example above but there are varieties of devices available from NComputing suiting needs of different users
The various forms of NComputing devices are
LSeries(Or LAN series):
These devices comes in L130,L230 and L300 models.
For these devices,you can even assign IP addresses
1) L130:- it is the basic device which has only PS/2 terminals for keyboard and mouse and one 24 pin port for monitor.
2) L230:-This device is same as L130, only one difference is that it has got one USB along with PS/2 hence you can have a flash drive/usb external hard-disk drive or a printer attached to this device
3) L300:-These devices comes with 2 USB ports along with PS/2 ports.These devices are used when you want to share a intensive graphics and multimedia streaming applications amongst the users
Following are the images of NComputing L-Series taken from taken from NComputing website.(Images by Courtesy of NComputing.)
From the following figure,L series devices L130/L230 communicate with the shared CPU through LAN cables via a network switch
From the following figure,L series devices L130/L230 communicate with the shared CPU through LAN cables via a network switch
Installation of L Series:
1) Installation is simple.Just connect your CPU with a network switch with a LAN cable.
2) Next just connect the L Series devices with LAN cables.
3) Connect the L-Series device with monitor,keyboard,mouse
4) Install VSpace software on shared CPU(It is recommended to install VMWare on the shared CPU,create one virtual machine and install one OS in that virtual machine and then install the VSpace software in it.Reason to do so is that when any OS crashes,you can switch from one virtual machine to another very easily thus impact on work is less)
5)Assign appropriate IP addresses to your CPU and NComputing devices
This whole setup of 5 users takes 2 to 4 hours max(In 2 days max, a Lab of 50 users can be setup)
X-Series
1) Installation is simple.Just connect your CPU with a network switch with a LAN cable.
2) Next just connect the L Series devices with LAN cables.
3) Connect the L-Series device with monitor,keyboard,mouse
4) Install VSpace software on shared CPU(It is recommended to install VMWare on the shared CPU,create one virtual machine and install one OS in that virtual machine and then install the VSpace software in it.Reason to do so is that when any OS crashes,you can switch from one virtual machine to another very easily thus impact on work is less)
5)Assign appropriate IP addresses to your CPU and NComputing devices
This whole setup of 5 users takes 2 to 4 hours max(In 2 days max, a Lab of 50 users can be setup)
X-Series
These devices fit into the PCI slots of your computers.They look like a LAN card having 5 ports
Following are the figures of NComputing X-Series devices.Images taken from NComputing website( Images by Courtesy of NComputing.)
From the figure,The card device shown is the X550 card and the black boxes shown are the terminal devices/NCVomputing devices.
These NComputing devices communicate with the CPU through LAN cables and these devices provide ports to add keyboard,mouse and monitor.
From the figure,The card device shown is the X550 card and the black boxes shown are the terminal devices/NCVomputing devices.
These NComputing devices communicate with the CPU through LAN cables and these devices provide ports to add keyboard,mouse and monitor.
Where does this x-series fits well:
An small office with limited space and having say 4 to 10 people at the max.
This is ideal for such small offices like data entry firms,computer institutes,small cyber cafes, libraries,chartered accountants firms,branch offices for insurance or marketing offices etc which are operating in a single room.
You cant extend this device too much in distance.This device doesnt work beyond distance of 10 meters cable length thats why we are keeping this solution restricted to a single room offices only.
for spanned length of 100 meters or more,L Series come to your rescue.
L-Series are used in factory establishments,large office establishments etc.
Installation of X Series:
1) In the PCI slot of your CPU,add this X550 card(1 card for 5 user and 2 cards for 10 users)
2) Install VSpace software on shared CPU
3) connect the terminal devices(NComputing devices) with LAN cables
Installation of X Series:
1) In the PCI slot of your CPU,add this X550 card(1 card for 5 user and 2 cards for 10 users)
2) Install VSpace software on shared CPU
3) connect the terminal devices(NComputing devices) with LAN cables
4) Now connect monitors,keyboard and mouse with the terminal devices
5)Now the whole setup is ready within 2 hours max
U-Series :U Series devices are same like L Series .The major difference is that they only have end user devices having USB ports.Thus you have to connect your PC and this device through USB and connect the keyboard+mouse eith the device through USB and monitor with this device through the port.
You need a USB keyboard and mouse for that.This device don't have a PS/2 port
You need a USB keyboard and mouse for that.This device don't have a PS/2 port
U-Series is mostly for home use where you have to share your PC with one or 2 more users at home or small home office
Salient features and advantages of NComputing
1) Cost effective: Reduces your setup cost
2) Only one CPU needs licensed softwares whereas in case of 1 CPU per user, you need 1 license per user. Thus the licensing cost is reduced tremendously(1 Windows+ 1 MS Office+ 1 Antivirus license for say 10 users).
3) Secure i.e each assigned user will only see his/her data and cant view anybody’s data unless being an administrator of server.
4) Energy Efficient: Saves Electricity because one CPU consumes around 35 to 110 watts whereas 1 NComputing device consumes 1 watt to 5 watts only plus less air conditioning required.
5) Compatible with all standard PCs
6) Less time required to setup an infrastructure
7) Maintenance required is less
8) Saving of space and lightweight
9) Longer life than the CPU. Normal CPU is disposed in 5 years(figures from developed countries) whereas NComputing devices can be used without any problem for 8 years or more hence less e-waste is produced hence NComputing also can be called as Green Computing>Help saving our planet earth by shifting to green computing.
The only drawback is that if that shared host CPU fails, the whole system might come to standstill but if proper backup system is implemented, this scenario can be avoided and work can be carried on uninterruptedly using VMWare Desktop Virtualization solution
We have created this document in a technical perspective and not in a marketing perspective to just sell the product hence along with various advantages; we have also put forth the disadvantages so that the end user/customer must be aware of it before implementing this solution and should plan for the proper fail proof system. Use of VMWare workstation eliminates this problem to a greater extent
Thus you can clearly see the advantages initial setup cost plus the Software licensing costs are tremendously reduced
Detailed Technical Information with diagrammatic explanation is given on further pages
It will clearly let you know the difference of costs incurred in traditional setup versus the NComputing approach.
Diagrammatic explanation of use cases:
Following diagrams demonstrate few use cases with a sample of 5 user network setup
First diagram shows the current scenario where in case of 5 user LAN setup, each user has his/her own CPU and all of them are connected through a Switch, router etc networking devices
The second diagram shows the NComputing approach where only one CPU is needed in 5/10 or 25 to 30 users
Diagram 1:- Here is a traditional setup of 1 CPU per user
Thus one has an idea of how much cost can be involved in doing this setup. The following setup shows 4 PCs connected via a switch in say a small office/institute. For sake of avoiding complexity, just 4 PCs are shown.But the number of PCs can span upto 25/30 or up to 50 also in a small-midsized office.
Diagram 2 :- Here is an NComputing approach to the same solution
From the diagram 2 shown above, it is clear that only one High performance CPU is sufficient for sharing 30 users also.
Practically it is possible to share a Core 2 Duo Desktop PC with 4 GB RAM with 10 users and still it gives satisfactory utilization ratio.
Total Cost of Ownership
The total cost of ownership(TCO) is as given below
The first scenario is for traditional setup where each user has his/her individual CPU.The total costs involved in this scenario right from setup till 5 to 8 years are given for 5 user setup.
The second scenario is given for NComputing devices with costs involved right from setup till 5 to 8 years costs.Thus this section will demonstrate how much can a organization save using NComputing technology
Following is the cost given for a traditional setup of per user CPU shown in diagram 1 for say 5 users
Setup costs
How much PCs required : 5
How many Windows Licenses: 5
How many MS Office licenses: 5
If we consider a Dual Core CPU with 250 GB HDD and 2 GB RAM per user and 15.6 inch monitor PC for an office with software licenses of Windows and MS office
Condition A:- Considering the total hardware and software cost goes upto 1,75,000 rupees approx plus cost of networking switches and wiring extra hence total hardware cost goes upto around 1,90,000 rupees including the labor charges for setup.Running cost for the setup for 5 years
Condition B: Power consumption
How much watts each computers consume: 100 to 140 watts(around 180-200 watts if you are using CRT monitor)
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
Considering energy efficient LED monitors along with CPUs, total units consumed 7 units per day
210 units in a month only on PC's(Lighting used in company is not considered)
In India,average cost per unit is around 7 rupees hence 5 PC's will cost around 1470 rupees per month thus it will cost 17,600 rupees a year on 5 PCs.
Thus for 5 years,average of 90,000 will be spent on electricity bill by 5 PCs
Condition C: Annual Maintainence contract for 5 PCs
How much is the AMC cost for 5 PCs: Consider it to be 2000 INR for 1 PC per year
I will be 10,000 per year
50,000 INR for 5 years
Thus for 5 years,average of 50,000 will be spent on maintaining 5 PCs
Thus adding all the three conditions above a total of 3,30,000 INR is spent on 5 PCs in 5 years
Assuming that a life of PC is 5 year(according to developed countries where a PC is disposed every 5 year)
This same cycle will continue for 5 years
TCO for NComputing is as given below
Following is the cost given for a NComputing 5 user setup with LSeries L 230 Setup
Setup costs
How much PCs required : 1
How many Windows Licenses:1
How many MS Office licenses:1
How many NComputing devices L Series L230 required: 5
Following is the cost given for a NComputing 5 user setup with XSeries X550 Setup
Following is the cost given for a NComputing 5 user setup with XSeries X550 Setup
Setup costs
How much PCs required : 1
How many Windows Licenses:1
How many MS Office licenses:1
How many NComputing devices X Series X550 required: 1 card +5 devices kit
If we consider a Core 2 Duo CPU with 2 or more 500 GB Hard disks and 4 GB RAM per user and 15.6 inch monitor PC for an office with software licenses of Windows and MS office
Condition A:- Considering the total hardware and software cost goes upto 1,04,000 rupees approx plus cost of networking switches and wiring extra hence total hardware cost goes upto around 1,15,000 rupees including the labor charges for setup.In X series,X550 for 5 users setup goes to approx 1,00,000 INR thus more saving if it is a single room office
Running cost for the setup for 5 years
Condition B: Power consumption
How much watts 1 PC consume: 100 to 140 watts(around 180-200 watts if you are using CRT monitor)
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
How much watts 1 NComputing device consume: 1 to 5 watts
How much time PC's will be used: 8 hours+2 hours extended(10 hours a day)
Considering energy efficient LED monitors along with CPUs, total units consumed 1.65 to 2 units per day
60 units in a month only on PC's(Lighting used in company is not considered)
In India,average cost per unit is around 7 rupees hence 5 PC's will cost around 420 rupees per month thus it will cost 5040 rupees a year on 5 PCs.
Thus for 5 years,average of 25,200 will be spent on electricity bill by 5 PCs
Condition C: Annual Maintainence contract for NComputing setup
How much is the AMC cost for 1 PC: Consider it to be 2000 INR for 1 PC per year plus technical support service charges whenever service needed.
10,000 INR for 5 years
Thus for 5 years,average of 10,000 will be spent on maintaining 5 PCs
Thus adding all the three conditions above a total of 1,50,000 INR is spent on 5 PCs in 5 years
Assuming that a life of PC is 5 year(according to developed countries where a PC is disposed every 5 year)
Life of NComputing is 8 years hence after 5 years,user only has to replace the shared PC and after 3 more years,the user may have to replace the 5 NComputing devices
Thus after 8 years
Total cost on NComputing setup spent will be around 2,30,000 INR
Whereas total cost after 8 years in case of tradition 1 cpu per user total costs incurred will be 5,03,000 INR
Thus you can clearly see that
NComputing reduces your initial setup cost by around 30%
Saves your electricity to upto 70% per year
Saves maintainence cost by around 80%
Thus on an average,in 5 to 8 years,you save around 60% of your total costs involved in a traditional setup
Cost of NComputing devices
X Series
X550:14,500 rupees(This kit includes a Card,5 terminal devices and VSpace software license)
Installation charges 1000 INR
**** The prices mentioned above are current prices.They are subject to change as per market conditions
AND THE MORE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT BY DOING THIS SHARING,THERE IS NO EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE.
Performance is guaranteed
Also NComputing devices have 3 years replacement warranty
******Updated Blog*************************
Newly added description of NComputing M series
Background:
Commonly used NComputing devices are X series (X-550 for 5 users and X-350 for 3 users)
X series are PCI slot based wherein we need to insert this device into PCI slot and from this card, we need to connect client terminals by means of LAN cables
The fact is that now PCI slots will be discarded in coming times. Infact Dell desktops available in countries like Singapore,Hongkong doesnt have PCI slots on their motherboards and other manufacturers also to do the same thing in forthcoming period
Thus NComputing came up with M series devices
Features
1) No PCI slot required.Only ethernet based connectivity through switches
2) M-300 features Numo2** SOC(Silicon on Chip) which features better video streaming without excessive host side processing
3) 24 bit video support
4) One PC can host upto max 45 client terminals
M300 is ideal for
Classroms, Labs, Libraries, Small offices
Numo2
It is a technique that offers HD quality video support and consuming less amount of resources on host PC thus creating no additional performance impact on the host PC
NComputing has achieved this by use of Video Scalar Hardware on this M300 device that can scale any type of video stream at no performance cost
The main advantage of NComputing is that its implementation approach is kept very simple and thus the cost of complexity is saved
Reason behind this is that when you purchase one NComputing kit, you get everything in it and the user doesnt have to go for any additional components like hypervisors (Citrix/VMWare etc)
VSpace software is included in the nComputing kit which itself is enough for a simple setup.When the infrastructure setup gets more complex,we can configure this VSpace with other hypervisors if necesscary
Comparable products to nComputing available in markets:
There are many available but here is comparison of one popular product called Citrus virtual terminal
Advantages:- This device is compact and has got its own storage devices and processor and Operating system
Disadvantages:- its cost
Though it is having superior performance but it has a seperate OS(Linux/Windows based) thus having cost of licensing involved.So instead of going for this device,it is better to have a seperate desktop because difference between cost of this device and a desktop is not too much.
Summary
Thus with nComputing devices,there is lot of flexibility involved along with no performance impact, affordable cost, good ROI in long term and simple to implement and maintain
Definately there are many advantages of going for this technology called Desktop virtualization
