NComputing pushes OLPC to one side in Indian schools deal

Ramakrishnan · 14-10-2008, 04:06 PM

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10...an_schoolkids/

"NComputing says it has scored a major coup in India where it will provide virtualisation technology to 5,000 schools in Andhra Pradesh.

The Silicon Valley firm has convinced the Indian state to opt for its range of computing products over Intel’s Classmate PC and One Laptop Per Child’s dinky XO machine.

NComputing said 1.8 millon schoolkids would have access to the new systems. It also reckoned the deployment of the firm’s goods to Andhra Pradesh was the biggest contract it’s ever won in India.

Each of the 5,000 secondary schools will have a ten-seat computing lab with two desktop PCs and eight NComputing machines.

NComputing banged the “eco-friendly” and “low-cost” drums in justifying why the Indian government had chosen the vendor over more obvious candidates such as the XO.

The firm says the Indian state's government will save lots of cash. "At about 70 dollars per seat, our solution is the ideal platform to enable schools, businesses, and governments to maximise their PC investment,"said NComputing chairman and CEO Stephen Dukker.

The company also reckoned Andhra Pradesh will "use 90 per cent less electricity compared to a traditional all-PC solution".

Andhra Pradesh will install 10,000 PCs in the state. Each one will run five virtual machines based on NComputing technology. Acer is supplying the desktops.

"NComputing is proud to have been chosen by Andhra Pradesh to fulfill its vision to improve learning and computer literacy throughout the state," said Dukker.

Microsoft is also set to benefit from the deal, as the computers will run Windows Server and its latest Office suite.

The proprietary software kingpin prefers to see it as way of “enabling affordable access to computing for education,” according to the company’s India chairman and veep, Ravi Venkatesan.®"

IronManForever · 19-10-2008, 03:02 PM

Great going. Virtualisation/Overhead processing are the ways to go!!

**MetalheadGautham** · 19-10-2008, 03:19 PM

Great going. Though microsoft server/office could have been easily avoided.

iMav · 19-10-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetalheadGautham

Great going. Though microsoft server/office could have been easily avoided.

No, I don't think so. Usually these inner deals are done so that companies like NComputing get funds/support.

**MetalheadGautham** · 19-10-2008, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iMav

No, I don't think so. Usually these inner deals are done so that companies like NComputing get funds/support.

??? please explain what you meant.

iMav · 19-10-2008, 03:40 PM

What I meant was, companies need funds and support to run. NComputing is not HP/Dell that they huge resources to fund themselves and their production, besides Microsoft Windows being the most used OS it is wise that they use Microsoft. Hence, for a small company trying to grow it is not easy to avoid the market leaders.

**MetalheadGautham** · 19-10-2008, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iMav

What I meant was, companies need funds and support to run. NComputing is not HP/Dell that they huge resources to fund themselves and their production, besides Microsoft Windows being the most used OS it is wise that they use Microsoft. Hence, for a small company trying to grow it is not easy to avoid the market leaders.

Are you talking about some sort of commission they get from MS for every copy of MS Software NComputing sells ?

iMav · 19-10-2008, 04:04 PM

Not necessarily commission. When companies do business it's not always commission like in the Indian education system for every admission you get 10%. There are tie-ups and deals that are signed.

**MetalheadGautham** · 19-10-2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iMav

Not necessarily commission. When companies do business it's not always commission like in the Indian education system for every admission you get 10%. There are tie-ups and deals that are signed.

Hmm... definitely makes sense from the POV of the company.
But speaking from a client side prespective, I still can't help wondering WHY.
Because the AP Govt. stated low cost as one of the criteria for the deal.
Not buying MS Software would have meant lower cost.

iMav · 19-10-2008, 04:21 PM

^^ Why? There are 2 deals here. 1 between Microsoft & NComputing & the other between NComputing and AP Govt.

In the deal between NComputing & Microsoft, I'm sure NComputing would have made sure that their deal with Microsoft did not hurt their (NComputing's) profits after selling OLPCs at a "low" cost to AP govt.

It is not necessary that you are low cost only if you are NOT using Microsoft. It can be possible that NComputing found providing after sales for Unix/OSS was costlier for them than for Microsoft products and then not to forget the wide-spread usage of Windows & Office itself.

NucleusKore · 19-10-2008, 06:50 PM

I saw this thread the day it was started but refrained from making any comment. I will just say that I am not terribly pleased with the news.

Now I am not a businessman and so i don't understand the intricacies of such contracts. What I do know is that there is a severe shortage of professionals who have the know how to administer the linux operating system. These professionals usually come from stronger educational backgrounds, bachelor's degree and above, and usually demand more pay (the demand - supply problem). Any company who wants to maintain linux systems state wide will face this problem. Deploying systems is one thing, giving service and support is another. This is the reason why linux needs to be pushed as a viable option at the basic home and school level. Kerela has got the ball rolling, and it remains to be seen how far they are able to go. Will they be able to train, to a satisfactory degree, linux system admins? I really do not know.

As far as I'm concerned my mission in this regard is very clear, to finally empower the consumer to make a real choice, between free and paid software; if you don't have a real good free option then there's no real choice, only one way to go

This is where dual booting is helpful, and I take this opportunity to call on all those who love freedom, freedom in the real sense of the word, to take this initiative to your school and neighbourhood. People are usually willing to let you install linux on their PCs, if their windows is allowed to coexist. Collect your cost for the media if they wish to keep the install cd/dvd, but otherwise don't think of money for the service rendered, there's no price too high to pay for freedom.

A small addition. for those of you who are worried about messing up partitions, a good place to learn is in a Virtual environment. The screenshots for the entire dual booting tutorial were taken in VirtualBox OSE. So you can safely install your Windows to your virtual hard disk in VirtualBox, don't activate it as it would be illegal. Make it like you would any Windows system with three to four partitions, then run through my dual booting tutorial. I wish I had such a great learning tool; I acquired most of my knowledge the hard way.