ClearCube Technology

Source: Technology Digital

Date :29/06/2007 15:52:59

ClearCube Technology wants to clear your desktop computers away, and replace them with a user - friendly, centralized alternative

Written and produced by James Buchanan & Thomas Venturo

If you’ve ever looked around your office and counted the number of individual computers, and then thought of your remote locations and all of those computers, and wondered if there were a way to better integrate all of those resources – ClearCube Technology may have the answer you’re looking for.

According to the company’s website, ClearCube provides centralized computing solutions that integrate blades, access devices and client management software into one unified system.

The result, says the company, is that its clients can expect 99.9 percent up time, hardened security, simplified management, improved user ergonomics (more desk space, less heat and noise), and 40 percent lower operating costs due to improved productivity.

Essentially, what ClearCube’s combined hardware and software solution does is replace all of those individual computers and replace them with a centrally located stack of blade servers. Individual users access the system at their workstation via a user port that connects the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and USB peripherals to the blade across a wired or wireless network.

The hardware is tied together using ClearCube’s Sentral management software.

This architecture allows IT administrators to remotely control the system from virtually anywhere in the world. Rather than multiple computers at multiple locations, there is one centralized blade server that multiple workstations connect to.

By way of example, National Car Parks (NCP), a leading car park management company located in Britain, deployed ClearCube’s system to manage its new car parks control room and customer service center.

According to an April 23rd press release by ClearCube, the system helped NCP unify its regional control centers into a single, nationwide, state-of-the-art control room. Centralizing the customer service and control center enabled NCP to implement a best-fit solution for a modern command and control environment, says the press release.

“Before the Croydon Operations Center, NCP operated seven satellite centers around the U.K. to control its car parks,” says Neil Robson, technology director for NCP.

“The transition to a centralized environment has provided NCP with a highly adaptable computing solution that gives us 100 percent systems availability and significantly simplified IT management. Most importantly, the architecture allows NCP to exceed our already tight goals for superior customer service.”

The above are not the only accolades the company has received.

In 2006, the company won InfoWorld’s Technology of the Year Award for its blade system. In a February 2005 review of recent upgrades by ClearCube, InfoWorld writer Oliver Rist commended the company for improvements made to the system.

“ClearCube has spent significant time and effort beefing up usability and workstation power,” writes Rist. “It’s time well spent, judging from the upgrades in flexibility and management.”

Since then, ClearCube has continued to upgrade its product, and in April of this year, announced the release of the next version of its core software product Sentral v5.5.

According to a press release issued by the company, Sentral v5.5 manages mixed physical PC blades with VMware-enabled virtual machines to seamlessly incorporate virtualization technology into centralized desktop computing without sacrificing end-user performance.

The press release then goes on to state that one of the key selling points of the system is enhanced and more efficient use of memory. Employees generally use only a small portion of their desktop machines’ available CPU capacity. This means that on every computer there is unused storage capacity that, in aggregate, add to a lot of wasted space. By employing a centralized “virtual” system, customers can better manage available memory because it is located in the centralized blade servers and overseen by an IT administrator at a single console.

New features added to Sentral v5.5 include virtualization support, Microsoft Vista support, expanded internationalization support, scalability, and a number of new user-friendly features to make the management console easier to use.

The company also announced on June 19th of this year that it had developed new technology that eliminates the distance barrier associated with delivering full performance video from centralized PC blades.

“The new ClearCube PC blade solution is the first in the industry to shatter the PC blade distance barrier, making the clear-cut benefits and measurable ROI of centralized computing solutions available to more organizations worldwide,” said Rick Hoffman, president and CEO of ClearCube, in a press release.

Founded in Austin, Texas, in 1997, the company has managed to expand its national and international presence to include offices in New York City; Washington DC; London; and Japan.

The company also has a number of strategic relationships with companies such as IBM Global Services, Intel, Lenovo, and Microsoft.

Further, markets served by the company include financial services, government, education, healthcare, manufacturing and retail.

On its website, the company denotes the key business requirements that its products meet for each industry.

For financial services, ClearCube notes that its products provide high uptime levels and compliance with federal privacy and reporting regulations. Customers include Lehman Brother, Chicago Board of Trade, and WestLB.

Under government and education the company notes hardened security and ability to access multiple secure networks from a single access point.

Customers include The US Air Force, Department of State, Duke and Jackson State University.

Healthcare requirements include compliance with HIPAA regulations and elimination of on-site maintenance in sensitive areas.

Customers include Duncan Regional Hospital, Memorial Health System, and John C. Lincoln Hospital.

Commercial and manufacturing requirements include minimizing equipment in harsh environments and centralized management for remote and distributed facilities.

Customers include AAA, Sysco Food, and Atmos Energy.