NComputing Launches Mobile VDI Client for Windows PCs

NComputing, a virtual desktop software supplier that has flown under most domestic radars but is building up an impressive global customer base, has released a new mobile client for turning Windows PCs, laptops, netbooks and tablets into high-performance virtual clients.

vSpace Client for Windows, released to general availability on March 20, uses NComputing’s homegrown vSpace Server to scale to up to 100 user sessions on a single host PC or server.

With that kind of scalability, IT departments are freer to support initiatives such as mobility, bring your own device (BYOD), remote access and Windows 7 migration with fewer resources and by utilizing legacy computers if necessary, NComputing’s new vice president of global marketing, Jay Mellman, said.

vSpace Client comes as a simple free download, and customers are usually up and running in 15 minutes or less, Melman told eWEEK. Customers can either extend existing NComputing vSpace deployments using a combination of thin clients and software clients, or deploy a software-only solution that uses their existing Windows-based PCs.

Downloads for iOS and Android devices are in the future plans for vSpace Client, Mellman said. Customers download and install the client free of charge on any number of devices, paying only for concurrent user access to vSpace Server.

Key features include:

• Mobile and remote access that allows users to access their desktops and key applications from any Windows desktop, laptop or netbook anywhere, anytime.
• BYOD capability that transforms user-owned devices into virtual desktop clients.
• Eases Windows 7 migrations by delivering a Windows 7 environment to existing PCs while allowing IT to control individual upgrade.
• Extends the life of PCs by enabling customers to repurpose aging PCs.
• Reduces pressure on IT by bringing the benefits of centrally managed virtual desktops to PCs distributed across sites and organizations.
• Enables centrally managed deployment with predetermined access rights, so that data does not reside on the client.

NComputing, based in Redwood City, Calif., has about 50,000 customers, more than 3 million virtual desktops deployed globally and about 20 million actual users, Mellman told eWEEK. The company has market-leading VDI share numbers in Latin America, Eastern Europe, India and in the education vertical, yet the company isn’t very well-known in its own country.

vSpace Client for Windows is available now from the online NComputing store and from channel partners worldwide. Pricing for the vSpace Server starts at $499 for a five-user license.