The Hindu Business Line : NComputing plans India production base as support centre for Asia-Pacific

Setting up base: Mr Stephen A. Dukker (left), Chairman and CEO, NComputing Inc, with Mr Vivek Sawant, MD, Maharashtra Knowlege Corporation Ltd, at a press conference in Mumbai on Friday. —

Adith Charlie

Mumbai, Nov. 6 NComputing, the California-based provider of ultra low-cost computing solutions, intends to set up a manufacturing base in India within the next 24 months.

“Having our own base here is the best way to bond with the local market. Moreover, for a price-sensitive market like India, it helps if we can reduce costs by bringing down import duty,” Mr Stephen Dukker, Chairman and CEO, told Business Line on the sidelines of a news conference here on Friday.

The company is exploring the option of manufacturing in India the access device that it now makes in Korea and ships worldwide. However, it is yet to zero in on on the location of the plant.

By 2012, the company expects the country to be its largest market from the second slot now. Around the same time period, NComputing expects its India operations to be the ‘principal support centre’ for Asia-Pacific. It already leverages its operations in Bangalore to develop software for its global needs.

NComputing has completed the installation of its solution in 10,000 adult learning centres along with the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation (MKCL), a company established by the State Government. It provides IT education through its network of 5,000 learning centres which too would be covered by NComputing’s technology in the next two years.

MKCL has gone in for NComputing’s X-series technology which costs less than Rs 4,000 per station. In October last year, it won an engagement from the Andhra Pradesh Government to provide computing access to 18 lakh school children.

NComputing says it can reduce the cost of computing by upwards of 50 per cent by allowing multiple users to share resources from one computer. It achieves this through a combination of hardware (access devices) and virtualisation software (vSpace) that enables creation of virtual desktops. With NComputing’s solution, despite sharing common applications, every user has his own keyboard, screen, settings, applications, and data.

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