R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

Blades clear multi-screen hurdle

PC blade workstations can support four screens with new hardware from ClearCube

Daniel Robinson, IT Week 18 Jun 2007

ClearCube Technology has unveiled new hardware that overcomes the distance limitations when using multiple displays with PC blade workstations. Workers can now have up to four screens and be sited anywhere in the world, aiding disaster contingency plans in industries such as financial services.

The new products, due to ship in the third quarter of 2007, replace the RDP or direct cable connection used by current ClearCube kit and instead use chips from Teradici that compress the data stream to deliver high performance and low latency over an IP connection.

“Fifty percent of our business is in the financial services sector, and the biggest customers are trading floors. They want multi-screen solutions,” said Paul Dunford, ClearCube’s European director of partners and alliances.

Although ClearCube’s original technology supports multi-monitors over direct cabling, runs are limited to 200m. Newer IP-based kit allows users to be more distant but does not support multiple displays.

“There is also a requirement for low latency by traders and this can’t be met with RDP over IP,” Dunford said. He added that the new hardware would make devising a disaster recovery strategy much easier because “customers have much more flexibility in where users can be located and still get their job done”.

ClearCube’s new I9420 and I9440 user ports support up to two or four monitors respectively. They can also bring audio and USB connectivity from the remote blade to closely replicate the experience of a desktop PC. However, because they are based on Teradici’s PC-over-IP chips, they must be used in conjunction with new PC blades that also have an integrated Teradici chip.

Dunford conceded that customers cannot mix and match with existing infrastructure, but added that “knowing our users, they will start to phase in the new kit”.

Because of their improved latency, the new blades and user ports can be used for applications such as CAD/CAM, according to ClearCube, which was previously impractical over a remote link.

ClearCube said it will demonstrate a quad-screen configuration at a special event for financial customers in London's Threadneedle Street on 11 July. Those interested in attending should contact the firm on 07939 873946.

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