Mr. Frost: ClearCube is creating a new platform in desktop computing. Our target audience is large enterprises that have spent millions and millions of dollars managing desktop computers. From our point of view, corporate desktops have largely grown out of the ubiquitous box PC that has been around forever, but they are not very efficient to manage in large enterprises. So we have a new platform that we are innovating called PC Blade, and it's actually a blade computer. ClearCube is based in Austin, Texas, and employs about 100 people. We have raised over $50 million in venture capital and have some large customers in financial services, government and healthcare.
TWST: What's the difference between the Wintel platform and the
blade computer, particularly when most of the office would be
using LANs or other kinds of networking work?
Mr. Frost: From the end user experience, ClearCube provides the
exact same PC experience as they would have with a traditional
box PC. We simply take the air out of that box PC and change it
into a PC blade format factor based on standard Intel parts, then
centralize that back in the data center. We use existing Cat5
cable runs to connect the PC blade to a C/Port, which is a very
small device about the size of a Palm Pilot that has ports to all
the things you need to be productive ' your keyboard, mouse,
monitor, etc. It has two USB ports for cameras, CD-ROMs or
floppies that you may want to add. That's all the user has at the
desktop. IT can administer the network just as they would any
other desktop deployment, but asset management becomes the real
benefit with a ClearCube blade PC. Look at what happens when
something goes wrong with the box PC: today's typical enterprise
relies on a service-level agreement with a large service provider
with a four-hour response and a technician who shows up at the
user's cube to diagnose and fix the problem. It typically takes
at least a day before that problem is resolved and the computer
is replaced. The blade computer is much simpler. If the user has
a problem, they contact the IT department which then logs on to a
secure browser-based tool and switches that user from the problem
blade to a spare blade. That happens instantly. The best part is
that nobody has to get in a van, nobody has to go find that guy's
office, you don't have users opening up a box trying to fix it
themselves ' it all happens very seamlessly. Another significant
improvement is found in the way users are moved. Let's say a
group of users wants to move to a new location. You would never
consider picking up your telephone and taking it to your new
office ' you would tell somebody who would switch your extension
to wherever you go. The ClearCube Move Management software, as
with all of our enterprise software applications, is designed to
simplify and improve the day-to-day lives of IT managers, to get
them away from the drudgery of a break-fix world.
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