The most successful provider of low-cost computing solutions, NComputing, announced today that it will assist more than 5,000 schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh with an educational computing initiative. The plan is to ensure computing access to about 1.8 million children all across the state.

The company’s services were chosen after a careful deliberation, with the government concluding that this is by far the best solution available. The innovative low-cost and eco-friendly services provided by NComputing will save the state’s officials $20 million right away and will also save about 90 percent of the energy that would have been used by traditional PCs.

"NComputing is proud to have been chosen by Andhra Pradesh to fulfill its vision to improve learning and computer literacy throughout the state," said Stephen Dukker, chairman and CEO of NComputing, extremely satisfied with the contract, which is very likely to attract many others. "At about $70 per seat, our solution is the ideal platform to enable schools, businesses, and governments to maximize their PC investment. We are the world leader in desktop virtualization and the scale of this deployment further extends our leadership position," he added.

Once the project will be completed, there will be more than 50,000 computing seats in schools all across the state.

The solution provided by NComputing involves a careful distribution of a computer’s capacities. Today’s computers are extremely powerful and all their applications do not even come close to their full resource potential. This is how the company introduced the idea to make multiple virtual desktops on a single PC, allowing several users to access a computer’s capacity at the same time and use it as if each one had his own computer. Andhra Pradesh decided on the X300 solution, which enables as many as seven users to share a PC.

"With the modernization of India's economy, students are eager to learn the computer skills that will prepare them for the digital workplace -- but most government school students have never even had the chance to type on a keyboard or click a mouse," said Mr. Raj Shah, chief marketing officer of NComputing, "This computerization project shows how forward thinking governments can use proven and practical technologies like NComputing to bridge the digital divide."

The project’s leaders want to as many kids as possible in contact with today’s technology, planning to help them develop their computer skills and office productivity – spreadsheets, word processing – but also assist them with other subjects such as math and reading. The process will demand several months for completion and it is expected to serve as a positive model for other governments.

The technology developed by NComputing is currently used by more than 20,000 organizations in about 90 countries. Its services are extremely appreciated in schools and are used in classrooms, libraries and computer labs. The company receives a lot more attention now, as the budgets get tighter and the demand gets bigger. Also, an important factor is the low consumption created by the eco-friendly technology.