NComputing Undercuts OLPC With Thin-Client Approach

NComputing said Monday it would be providing computers in 5,000 schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Because of the particulars of NComputing's system, the company says 1.8 million students will have access to the machines to learn computing skills and productivity software.

Redwood City, Calif.-based NComputing uses a technology more common to server farms than rural schools to slash the cost of operating PCs. It's called "virtualization" -- a layer of software that lets many "virtual" computers run simultaneously on the power of a single souped-up desktop.

Different Approaches

In Andhra Pradesh, the government will install 10,000 computers and turn each into five virtual PCs. Each of those virtual NComputing workstations operates just like a standalone PC, except that the mouse, keyboard and monitor are hooked up to a small black box. That box, in turn, is connected with a cable to a hub PC.

NComputing says its system has yielded more than a million "seats" in schools and other organizations in less than two years, for as little as US$70 per seat. One Laptop Per Child has said it has taken about 621,000 orders for its ballyhooed $188 computers, which have made their way to such developing countries as Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Rwanda, Haiti and Afghanistan.

NComputing says its success in Andhra Pradesh and other emerging markets calls the One Laptop Per Child model into question. In an interview, Stephen Dukker, NComputing's chief executive, called the XO laptops "limited" because they are built for kids' computing needs.

In comparison, NComputing's solution works on mainstream computers and can keep up as technology improves, using local technicians for support , Dukker said.

"What we have found is, many of the programs that start down the path towards OLPC change and wind up deploying our technology instead, once they get into it," Dukker said.

Fighting Back

One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte deflects Dukker's criticism by saying his nonprofit and NComputing are addressing different needs. OLPC expects governments that buy its computers to give them to children, for them to keep and use at home, not just in a school computer lab.

"If you want to bring a touch of the computer experience, IT savvy, if you will, to each student in a school, the cheapest way is to build computer labs and the least expensive way to do that is NComputing," Negroponte said in a statement. "If, by contrast, you want every child to have their own pencil, inside or outside school, that means a laptop."

In Andhra Pradesh, education-technology consulting companies will set up and run the computer labs in schools for five years, giving school staff time to learn the skills they need to be self-sufficient. The NComputing workstations will run Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows operating system and give students access to Word, Excel and other Office programs.