Desktop sharing: Making computers affordable for remote PHL schools

Today’s computers are so powerful that the average user only needs a small fraction of the computing capacity of his PC. As a result, a lot of a computer’s capacity goes unused and, therefore, wasted—unless it can be shared. 

 

The sharing of the unused capacity is the idea behind desktop virtualization: One CPU serves the needs of multiple users, who each has his own monitor, mouse and keyboard but is connected to the same host computer as several other users by a piece of technology called an access device.

 

“It’s a very simple concept,” says Manish Sharma, Vice President for the Asia Pacific of NComputing, one of the world’s top desktop virtualization companies. 

 

“Twenty years ago, what people were using computers for is not very different from what they use them for now—word processing, spreadsheets, games. Not much has changed with what people require from their computers, though some applications like browsers have come in, and the computers themselves have changed. Now, an average PC’s power has surpassed the needs of most users. We found that for four users sharing a PC, only 15% of the CPU’s capacity is consumed. Desktop virtualization takes the surplus power and spreads it to other users.”

 

For instance, a computer room in a school could have seats for 33 students—each with their own workspace with a monitor, keyboard and mouse—but only have three host PCs for all of them, with one administrator overseeing the network.

 

NComputing claims that this cuts down on costs by 50% to 70%. Broken down, the savings consist of:

 

 

All of these advantages make the access device great for rural, remote schools, which have to make do with a very limited budget, little electricity, few resources to maintain infrastructure and a long downtime when it comes to computers breaking down and needing to be repaired. 

 

In 2011, desktop virtualization was part of the Department of Education’s project to supply thousands of schools across the country with computers.  

 

Other companies were commissioned to provide monitors, keyboards, mouses, CPUs and other devices, while NComputing won the contract to supply, deliver, install, configure, test and commission the devices for the Dep Ed project. NComputing, through local distributor MustardSeed Corp. and its provincial partners, deployed access devices to 3,077 schools nationwide (1,642 public elementary schools in Luzon, 1,194 in Visayas and Mindanao, and 240 technical-vocational high schools). It totaled 29,400 shared computing devices for 5,000 desktops, or six per desktop. The access devices run on every computing system.

 

The models used for the schools are X350 (a kit with three XD2 access devices) and U170 (the same as the X350 model, but connecting to a USB port).

 

The project took from March to September 2011, but NComputing only announced the collaboration now, says Sharma, because the company wanted to make sure that the schools and the department were happy with the result. 

 

And they were. “They were overwhelmed by it,” says MustardSeed’s Judith Adao about how the teachers and students received the new computers. “Nakakatuwa tingnan.”

 

Desktop virtualization is a growing business in the world of IT, having provided over three million seats in three years in 110 countries. In the US, 15% of the K to 12 (schools) market use shared systems. And NComputing is the world’s fastest-growing desktop virtualization company. It is number one in the Asia-Pacific, and the region has posted the largest growth gain for the company in 2011.

 

The Philippines is currently the only ASEAN country that NComputing has penetrated, and it has posted the highest sales for the company second only to India. Apart from the schools that were part of the Dep Ed’s project, NComputing’s clients in the country include small- and medium-sized enterprises.  — TJD, GMA News