NEC Computers launches revolutionary Virtual PC Center, a virtual PC solution integrating IP telephony

NEC Computers announces the launch of its revolutionary Virtual PC Center (VPCC): an innovative hardware and software product for virtual workstations, unifying computing and IP telephony. By converging voice and data, the Virtual PC Center thin client architecture makes administration of workstations easier whilst reducing costs and ensuring data protection. This also enables the real mobility of users who can access their working environment from wherever they are, whether they are in their place of work or working remotely. The introduction of a new generation thin client offers multimedia capabilities equal to those of a PC.

The architecture of the global Virtual PC Center solution
The architecture of this global solution is based on 4 key elements:
- The client workstation: the user has access to an extremely powerful thin client for video and audio thanks to the US100 (as a static workstation and TCM160 for the mobile model). The telephone headset can be directly connected to the US100 allowing “peer to peer” connections for internal calls and therefore bypassing the VoIP server.
- The virtual server: comprised of NEC Express5800 120 Ri2 servers (2U rack mounted dual-processor systems) to which the thin clients are connected. This server is powered by VMware® technology loaded with middleware, making it possible for each virtual PC user to have access to their own Microsoft® Windows® XP Pro environment complete with applications and VoIP software. The users’ data can be stored on the server disks,NAS or SAN. Each server can support up to 20 virtual clients.
- The administration server: a single Sygma System Center console implemented on the NEC Express5800 110 Ej server (single processor system running Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003). This maintains the profiles of the virtual PCs and allows the deployment of applications and patches as well as rules implementation for dynamic resource allocation.
- The NEC’IP telephony server SV7000: provides Voice over IP services and supports up to 16000 connections.

NEC expertise responding the the evolving enterprise market
With the Virtual PC Center, NEC will grow it’s market share within the thin client architecture sector. According to IDC this market is experiencing more than 22% annual growth and will represent approximately 12% of the European workstation market by 2010.
Virtual PC Center provides a strategic and focused response to the current challenges and trends in the IT arena such as budgetary constraints and ever increasing security demands. It achieves this whilst also taking advantage of new technological opportunities such as VoIP.
For example this solution is ideal for call centres in any industry sector, as well as workstations dedicated to admin functions in large organisations, such as accountancy, sales administration and human resources. Virtual PC Center is also oriented towards the education and training sectors, health, and suppliers of outsourcing and facilities management services.

To develop this solution, NEC drew on it’s expertise of components, networks, telecoms, and computing. The Components division developed an ultra-powerful sytem-on-a-chip LSI for thin clients; the Networks & Telecoms division brought its capability in telephony over IP and the company’s computing division integrated this with its servers and software administration tools to complete the solution.
The Virtual PC Center can be installed and deployed by NEC and its certified partners in order to migrate customers to a transformed computing environment. The services provided by Virtual PC Center include auditing, scalability and configuration services, as well as installation and deployment services.

“The NEC Virtual PC Center is a real illustration of voice/data convergence and marks the beginning of a new era. Thanks to our solution, from now on companies have access to the combination of data and voice with complete peace of mind, and will have an extremely positive vision of client workstation architecture” affirms Jean-Claude Tagger, President & CEO of NEC Computers. “We concentrated all our efforts on launching this product, and the synergy of the combination of NEC subsidiary companies enables us today to provide a complete solution able to satisfy the expectations of our customers.”

The benefits of Virtual PC Center
In addition to the technological advancement that this solution represents, this solution is supported by the results of NEC’s research into the evolution of the client workstation and its benefits for the user, the administrator and by extension the whole organisation.
For the company, the VPCC is above all a secure solution. Thin client architecture, by concentrating applications and data on the server and by depriving the client workstation of any means of local storage (including USB keys), greatly reduces the risks of malicious intrusions such as viruses, spyware, etc. and data loss. An ID card reader for authenticating the user reinforces security.
Moreover, Virtual PC Center can reduce the Total Cost of Ownership by a quarter over 3 years in comparison to the traditional PC. The centralisation of the administration of virtual PCs in a single point removes on-site interventions. US100 have a lifespan of around 5 to 6 years.
The environmental impact is also a concern for NEC and so the US100 is an ecological solution that consumes less than 13W. The total energy consumption (server included) is reduced by 50% with respect to traditional PCs. With quieter client workstations and an extended lifespan the Virtual PC Center contributes to a more environmentally friendly model of computing.
This infrastructure also has major advantages from an administrator’s point of view as the centralisation of the user environments reinforces the control over application deployment. The virtual environment facilitates the collection of regression tests for simpler deployment of application patches.
Moreover, Sigma System Center optimises the use of the servers (dynamic resource reallocation) and the integration of VoIP architecture guarantees a controlled convergence and simplification of the company infrastructure.
Lastly, the migration from PCs towards Virtual PC Center does not require any modification of the applications. The VPCC is integrated in an evolutionary architecture with the connection to the company directory, the installation of up to date protection tools, the clustering of servers for higher availability and increased storage space with NAS or SAN.
For the user, the VPCC solution offers real mobility since it makes it possible to take advantage of the ubiquity of his/her personal system whether it concerns software (applications, data, electronic messaging) or telephony (telephone line, address book, voice messaging). The working environment can be wherever he/she is and from any US100 or TCM160, inside or outside the company.
This solution also offers major user comfort with top-of-the-range multimedia performance. Thanks to its integrated advanced system-on-a-chip LSI, the US100 provides multimedia quality that is unparalleled among thin clients.
Lastly, the user works in their normal environment with their usual applications. The migration is transparent for them. With no fan or hard disk, the Us100 is quiet and its footprint is minimal (155 mm x 104 mm x 34 mm and only 370g).