NComputing is a

desktop virtualization Desktop virtualization is a software technology that separates the desktop environment and associated application software from the physical client device that is used to access it. Desktop virtualization can be used in conjunction with applicati ...

company that manufactures hardware and software to create

virtual desktops In computing, a virtual desktop is a term used with respect to user interfaces, usually within the WIMP paradigm, to describe ways in which the virtual space of a computer's desktop environment is expanded beyond the physical limits of the sc ...

(sometimes called zero clients or

thin clients In computer networking, a thin client, sometimes called slim client or lean client, is a simple (low-Computer performance, performance) computer that has been Program optimization, optimized for Remote desktop, establishing a remote connectio ...

) which enable multiple users to simultaneously share a single operating system instance. NComputing, based in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, is a privately held for-profit company with offices in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, UK,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

; and resellers around the world.NComputing, Inc.
/ref>

History

Founding

In 2003, Young Song, a former VP at

eMachines eMachines was a brand of economical personal computers. In 2004, it was acquired by Gateway, Inc., which was in turn acquired by Acer Inc. in 2007. The eMachines brand was discontinued in 2013. History eMachines was founded in September 1998 by ...

, met German entrepreneur Klaus Maier (formerly CEO of hydrapark), who had spent more than ten years developing the core software on which NComputing is based. They formed a team to develop the complementary hardware in Korea, while the software was written in Poland and Russia. After they successfully launched the product and reached $10 million revenue in two years, the two founders decided to move its headquarters to Silicon Valley. Stephen Dukker, former chairman of eMachines, joined NComputing in August 2006, to lead the company together.A lesson in technology sharing
/ref>

Financing

Dukker introduced NComputing to venture capitalists and technology journalists in September 2006 at DEMOfall 06. By October 2006, NComputing had raised $8 million from Scale Venture Partners (formerly known as BA Venture Partners).NComputing gets $8M for low-cost computer workstations
/ref> In January 2008, the company raised a $28 million series B round of financing,NComputing raises $28M to spread cheap computers to poor
/ref> led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm

Menlo Ventures Menlo Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California with an additional office in San Francisco, California. The firm was founded as one of the earliest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley in 1976 and provides technology ...

with participation from Scale Venture Partners and South Korea's Daehong Technew Corp. In April 2012, the company raised a $21.8 million series C round of financing led by Questmark Partners with participation from existing investors. In 2017, original NComputing Co., Ltd, a Korean corporation, became the ultimate holding company for all other subsidiaries and had raised $6 million from MDI VC (Telkom Indonesia VC in Jakarta), Pinnacle Ventures (Menlo Park, United States), and Bokwang Ventrues (Seoul, Korea) for accelerating South Asia region's growth and boost enterprise VDI software products.

Current growth

The company was founded in 2003. Current global usage is 20 million daily users in 140 countries. Typical customer profile includes 70,000 education and business organizations including 5,000 school districts in the United States. NComputing has shipped more than three million units overall,NComputing scores big Indian deal for thin-client computers
/ref> including 180,000 seats to provide one computing seat for every K–12 student in the country of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

.All Macedonian students to use Linux desktops
/ref> As of 2017, the company has 100 employees worldwide. onversation with NComputing HR representative/ref> According to several survey metrics, Ncomputing is positioned as one of the top five major players in the enterprise thin client market - next to

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, trading as Lenovo ( , zh, c=联想, p=Liánxiǎng), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, servers, conv ...

, and IGEL.

Operating system and virtualization support

Linux support

Linux is supported through a version of vSpace Server for Linux software. Currently, NComputing offers support for Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04 and 18.04. This software is proprietary and requires a server-based license. There is a 10-day free trial period. The vSpace Server for Linux provides features like client session monitoring, virtual IP, optimized video playback and messaging service between the clients.

Windows support

Windows is supported through a version of vSpace Server for Windows software. The supported versions of Windows include: Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2, Windows XP SP3 (32-bit); Windows Server 2008 SP2, Windows Vista SP21(32-bit); Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows MultiPoint Server 2011, Windows 7 SP1 (both 32- and 64-bit), Windows 8 SP1 (64-bit), Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019.،vSpace Server software utilizes Microsoft

Remote Desktop Services Remote Desktop Services (RDS), known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and earlier, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allow a user to initiate and control an interactive session on a remote computer or virtual machine ...

features to host user sessions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ncomputing Computer companies of the United States Computer hardware companies Computer systems companies Thin clients Remote desktop protocols Privately held companies based in California Computer companies established in 2003 2003 establishments in California