InfoTech: back to the future with shared CPUs

The idea of "virtualisation," the creation of "virtual machines" in a single box developed in the world of internet servers. It makes a half-way house between a shared server and a dedicated server, using software to trick the computer into thinking that it's a dedicated machine receiving instructions from several users. Although the technology is nothing like networking, the effect is that the machine thinks it's getting instructions from a network when, in fact, all instructions are internally generated.

Many computer users have no recollection of life before the PC when Wang word processors were state of the art. And in the mini-computer market, the Motorola 68000 series chip - the very same chip that powered the Commodore Amiga - was a true multi-tasking chip. Running on Unix, a true multi-user operating system, this enabled desks to be fitted with a keyboard and monitor, termed a "dumb terminal" because it had no local computing power. In fact, it had no internal processor, no memory and no drives or other moving parts. Unless someone dropped it or spilt coffee into it, it didn't break. Companies such as Wyse and DEC became the industry standards and their protocols the most commonly used. If any software maintenance was needed, it was done at the CPU, not across dozens, hundreds or even thousands of PCs. And, so long as the CPU had a spare port, adding a terminal was a simple matter of running a cable to the CPU and plugging it in. It wasn't a network, it was shared computing.

Surprisingly, there are hundreds of manufacturers of dumb terminals even today. They are used to access mainframe computers although, in recent years, PCs have been used for dual-purposes: as a PC and, via an emulator, a mainframe terminal.

Back in those days, computer hardware was expensive. In 1988, to upgrade from a 10MB SCSI hard drive to 20MB cost GBP750 - and you had to part exchange the smaller disk. Office automation companies made their profits from selling hardware rather than software.

With the PC, the balance changed: although software became a commodity, every PC needed some. A single central computer that hosted the operating system, applications and data became an expensive and outmoded idea. Novell sold us the idea of networking PCs and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon with Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups.

And although, using a KVM switch (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) multiple users could use a single PC, the KVM was (is) a hard switch meaning that only one user has access at any one time.

But the idea of Software As A Service began to spawn interest in shared computers which allowed multiple access. If a webservice could use a single operating system and common programs, with users having a secure data area, why could that principle not be applied to the office environment. And if that sounds like those old Motorola / UNIX boxes, it's because it is. Intel and AMD have produced true multitasking chips for several years. And the laptop you bought five years ago was more powerful than the computers the Space Shuttle was designed on. All that was holding back a return to centralised computing were the restrictions on sharing software imposed by software houses which blocked simultaneous access to their services and the fact that PCs were no so cheap that a fast machine and a flat screen monitor can be put on a desk for as little as GBP250.

In a total reversal then, the machines have become far more powerful than the vast majority of office users need running operating systems that are far too complex for their needs and with far more copies of software than a firm needs.

In short, shared software and shared computing power is an obvious way to cut costs for those who don't have the cahoonas to put Linux and OpenOffice.Org on the desktop.

Enter NComputing, a California-based software house. It claims to have had a great new idea. They say "Today's PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small fraction of the computer's capacity. NComputing's virtualization software and hardware tap this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by many users. Each user connects to the shared PC through a small NComputing access device. The access device has no CPU, memory, or moving parts—so it is rugged, durable, and easy to deploy and maintain."

And if that sounds familiar, it's because it is.

So what does NComputing sell?

It has amalgamated all of the above in a way that seems startlingly obvious: its software allows simultaneous multiple access to a single PC: a PC that is already far more powerful than those boxes we paid a fortune for in the mid 1980s. The operating system (almost whichever one you use) allows multiple accounts which have unique storage areas but full access to programs and the OS. NComputing's VSpace means more than one person can use the OS and programs at once. Plug your existing keyboard, monitor, mouse, microphone speakers and (depending on model) a USB into a box just one inch tall and 4.5 inches wide (about the same as your modem at home) and plug in the ethernet network cable.

You don't even have to buy a new computer: for small offices (up to 11 users) just fit a PCI card into an empty slot and away you go.

Just like our old UNIX / Motorola machines before the world swung towards Intel and Microsoft and their kit on every desk.

The software sits on the primary PC: in effect the server. NComputing will sells you the latest generation of dumb terminal. For the user, it's just like having his own PC. For the company, it's a return to simpler, cheaper times.

Whilst the technology is new, the concepts are not. And for businesses looking for a way to reduce their computing costs, from software to maintenance this has got to be worth a look.

Think of it: no more hard-drives to go wrong; centralised backup, no need to monitor which users have failed to patch their operating system and platforms. One or two computer techs instead of dozens, and no need for them to go to individual PCs.

Add in dramatically reduced power consumption as against a full PC on every desk, with their heat generating processors and noisy fans, and the proposition seems to be remarkably convincing. In fact, a typical PC uses 110 watts per hour; each terminal uses 5 watts per hour, says the company.

There's a very simple question for almost every business: can you afford NOT to look at NComputing's idea? And guess what? It runs on Windows (of course) but it also runs on various flavours of UNIX and Linux.

And you are not going to be the first: a University in Macedonia has put 1800 students on line, the World Trade Organisation ran the system in its press centre in Hong Kong's Convention Centre for the Ministerial Conference and across the event with 500 users, 30 per PC. It was estimated that there was an 80% energy saving using the system. And, the company that put it in said, deployment was done in "a fraction of the time" it would have taken to set up 500 PCs.