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PC blade pioneer ClearCube is turning to partners to help expand the reach of its products.
The Austin, Texas, company on Monday is announcing CSN (ClearCube Solutions Network), a group of eight technology vendors that will give users other reasons to adopt ClearCube Technology Inc.s PC blades, said Raj Shah, chief marketing officer.
“This is a set of technology companies that have complementary hardware or software that work well with centralized computing,” Shah said.
ClearCube builds blade computers that sit in a chassis stored in a central location. The blades are connected to the desktop keyboard, mouse and monitor via Command Ports—including the C/Port, I/Port and Fiber C/Port—that sit on the desk.
Users get a full Windows environment, while administrators get a more manageable and secure computer infrastructure.
The environment is managed by the ClearCube management suite.
The advantages of PC blades are similar to those of thin clients—better security and easier manageability.
Because key data and computer components are housed in a central area, they cant be removed from the premises. In addition, because of the centralized environment, IT administrators dont have to go to individual desks to manage the computers.
“PC blades continue to grow at a very quick rate, but theyre still a small percentage of the PC market,” Shah said.
Much of the adoption has taken places in such markets as financial services, hospitals and the federal government, Shah said.
ClearCube is hoping to grow that market through the partnerships formalized in the CSN. Included in the network membership are thin client vendor Neoware Systems Inc., grid computing software company DataSynapse Inc., high-performance computing software maker United Devices Inc. and American Power Conversion Corp., which builds data center infrastructure products.
Other members include Motion Computing Inc., which makes tablet PCs, NetBotz Corp., which makes IP-based monitoring software, Xybix Systems Inc., which specializes in E911 centers, and Ensure Technologies Inc., which makes the Xyloc security products.
ClearCube has pioneered the PC blade space, although Hewlett-Packard Co. two years ago introduced its Consolidated Client Infrastructure, which includes both PC blades and thin clients.
A spokesperson for HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., said the company is seeing increasing demand for the products and is gearing up for an expanded rollout in North America.
ClearCube also is working with some OEMs, such as Lenovo Group Ltd., which is reselling the PC blades.