Office Station CERTIFICATIONS SBC Award 2006 A briefly description about the Award and the presented projects based on NComputing UTMA technology NComputing Sales Office Europe Author: Thomas Huette © 2006, by NComputing GmbH Europe, All rights reserved, March / 2006. NComputing is a registered trademark of NComputing Co., Ltd. - Korea. We acknowledge all names and trademarks of the above companies. Information on this white paper may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Information may be changed or updated without notice. NComputing reserves the right to make improvements and/or changes in the products, programs and/or specifications described in this information at any time without notice. Please visit: www.ncomputing com for additional information. NComputing Co.,Ltd. 2nd Fl, Daeyoung Bldg, 1423-6 Gwanyang1-Dong, Dongan-Gu, NComputing GmbH Europe Bahnweg 12 91785 Pleinfeld NComputing Sales Office Kinzweilerstr. 54 52477 Alsdorf Anyang-City, Gyeonggi-Do, Korea 431-807 Tel: +82 31 422 5157 Germany Tel: +49 9144 94994 Germany Tel: +49 2404 67 3909 Fax: +82 31 422 5158 Fax: +49 9144 94996 Fax: +49 2404 67 48 400 The Award At CeBIT 2006 the ETCF (European Thin Client Forum) in cooperation with the CRN (Computer Reseller News) offered an award to reseller, VARs and SIs who showed with innovative projects the advantage of SBC-solutions (Server-Based-Computing) compare to the use of regular Personal Computer. Resellers which aimed to apply for the “Server-Based Award CeBIT 2006” were invited to submit an official application which includes a short project report. This report must specify the following details: -Name of the customer -Starting situation / previous IT infrastructure -Demands made on the server-based computing environment -Scope of implementation -Sequence of implementation -Final result / current status of the project -Optional statement from the user/customer -Optional pictures and graphics Schedule 20th Feb – 03rd Mar timeframe to bring in the project report 04th Mar – 06th Mar preselection and choice of the finally nominated candidates 09th Mar – 13th Mar presentation of the projects at the CeBIT 15th Mar presentation of the nominated candidates and award winner About The ETCF To meet the increased information requirements for server-based computing solutions and to open the market, leading representatives of the server-based computing and Thin Client industries have come together to found an Association. The main task of ETCF will be the communication of the potential of Thin Client technology in terms of performance and usage to the media, analysts and the general public. For further information please take a look at: http://www.etcf.de/cms/home_en/ Since End of 2005 NComputing is official member of the European Thin Client Forum. NComputing Candidates Two of the nine finally nominated candidates did applied for the Server-Based Award CeBIT 2006 with projects which where realized with products based on the NComputing UTMA (Ultra Thin Multi Access) Technology. -Schwarz Computersysteme GmbH; project “Pollmeier” -Targa Hong Kong Limited; project “WTO MC6 conference” Presentation of the project “WTO” by Mr. Thomas Huette, NComputing, on behalf of Presentation of the project “Pollmeier” by Mr. Charles Kwan, Targa Hong Kong Mr. Peter Miehling, Schwarz Limited. (here introduced by Mr. Peter Computersysteme GmbH Germany Marwan, editorial journalist of CRN) Summary of the WTO project An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system was required for the worldwide event - the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which took place in Hong Kong Convention Centre between Dec.13 – 18. 2005. Huge amount of IT infrastructure was needed to support the Conference for 11,000 accredited participants from 149 member areas. The IT infrastructure included: -PC and PC Sharing solution -LAN for Broadcaster Booths in Convention Foyer -Structured cabling system -Computer servers, racks, UPS and associated software -IT communication links and broadband lines -on-site support and helpdesk services -Accreditation System -Web casting and archiving service -local web site services Targa Hong Kong Limited was chosen by the event organizer - Hong Kong SAR Government and World Trade Organization to provide the equipment and support services for PC sharing solution. The IT infrastructure needs to be highly integrated with the Conference facilities and Telecom facilities. Owing to the criticality and importance of the IT systems, high standard of services and equipments with short mean time between failure, and availability of support staff and spares was a must. All systems need to be passed the functional test, a month off-site integration test, offsite acceptance test, site acceptance test, IT risk assessment and off-site IT security audit prior to system implementation. On-site security audit is carried during the event. The whole system design includes a lot of considerations from various parties, including the considerations of the network, security, functionality, feature, availability, privacy, implementation and efficiency. The server-based solution Targa used to meet these demands based on NComputing UTMA Technology. It did centralize management architecture with minimized management domain, the whole system can dynamically adjusted to cope with the changing requirement of the conference needs, even reconfigure all stations during the event time. Requirements for the sever-based computing included: -Short mean time between failure -High availability - Environmental friendly - Cost Effective -Short setup and dismantle time -High Security -Fast Support Services -Highly integration with complicated networking environment -24 hours operation a day -Each node has dedicated private USB port for USB Storage -Each node has Internet access -Each node features MS Office, MS Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Real Networks Inc Real Player, Adobe PDF reader -Each node cannot install or run any application other than the specified applications -Each Host PC supports 2 or 3 thin client stations. -Storage media including Floppy, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD accessibility provided in the selected nodes -Mean-Time-To-Repair of the equipment shall be less than 30 minutes. -Each node supports network printing -Nodes need to be logically grouped into designated VLAN groups -Each node works as independent PC operation, including user logon, logoff and usage. -All nodes cannot be restart or shut down by the normal user -Users cannot alter any system settings including PC BIOS, PC Sharer setting, Windows Setting, Printer Setting and Registry Setting. -Nodes boot up to Windows automatically without user interaction -System recovery with daily HDD image reborn To meet these high demands Targa Hong Kong Limited chose the NComputing UTMA Technology based NStation L100. NComputing UTMA device NStation in other regions known as OfficeStation and PC Expanion Events Photos Press Centre Press Centre Delegates Centre NGO Centre Cyber Café LDC Lounge Area Summary of the project Pollmeier Pollmeier is the market leader for high-quality Beech lumber. Customers in 60 countries are realizing the benefits of using Beech lumber produced at state-of-the-art sawmills by “The Pollmeier Group”. Through implementation of the most modern equipment, Pollmeier created the first European sawmill to produce sawn deciduous timber efficiently. A fully automated industrial production process yielding lumber of the highest quality standards puts Pollmeier a step ahead of conventional sawmills Factory in Creuzburg Factory in Malchow Even if the outside view of the Pollmeier buildings looks nice and clean, the operating conditions inside the factory is as loud and dusty as it has to be expected in a sawing mill. Beside the heavy dust exposure the whole environment is characterised by continuous vibrations caused by the heavy saw mill machines and variations in temperature between 0 and 45 degrees Inside the factory there are three different areas were the use of Computers is needed: - Maintenance Detection and handling of active alarm messages directly at the machineries and directly at the SAP-System - Quality Assurance Collection of dynamic process information by the operator of the machineries Automatic SAP log on and log off in event of shift changeover - Process Virtualisation Running diagnostic and virtualisation software to display and control the sawing process So far it was usual to use regular Industrial PCs for the tasks described above. Due to the dust and other detrimental effects, these PCs needs to be equipped with a special protecting case which was expensive, not easy to maintenance and with a huge need of space. Additional to that, it was needed to change the filters frequently. The cost for one of these PCs was about US$ 2650 (Including Hard and Software, cover and cost of installation). Due to the use of the OfficeStation the cost could be decreased by more than 30%. This was being able to realize because the OfficeStation does not need to be equipped with this special case. Beyond that the OfficeStation offers the advantage of easy maintenance. In the past it was needed to wait for a special IT-Administrator to fix a problem of the PC. In case of a problem with the OfficeStation it is not a big deal to change the device. Even the regular operator of the sawing machine is able to do this easily. This saves time and a lot of money because of less time off. Another advantage of the SBC solution based on the OfficeStation is the possibility of running special analysis tool centralised and remote from the IT administrator room. Software support is easily possible as well as takes over the whole session in case of trouble (remotely) Patch management and updating the Software can be done centralized and without the need of touching the devices in the factory. This additionally saves time of up to 70%. Due to the ease of use the acceptance factor of the sawing mill operators is very high. The time off based on operating mistakes could be reduced by more than the half. Training in use of the new terminals was done in less than 1 hour. All needed information can be provided by just one single paper sheet. The final testing in real life use has been finished successfully in parts of the factory in Creuzburg. Based of these positive results Pollmeier decided to equip all it factories with the OfficeStation step by step. In the second quarter of 2006 it is planned to equip the factory in Malchow with the OfficeStation. Additional factories are planned / already under construction in Aschaffenburg and Heimsheim. These new factories will be equipped with the NComputing Technology as well. Final target is to use OfficeStations only and to centralize the “Host PC” as server farms in Creuzburg. This will reduce the IT cost additionally. The use of OfficeStation for the home office users is also under discussion Statement of Sven Raab, responsible network & security administrator of Pollmeier: “The OfficeStation is truly a real alternative to established Industrial PCs for the use in rough industrial environment. And … these devices are rock solid and just works!”