The View From NCS Technologies

Please Visit NCS Booth #5

The Dallas Fort Worth VMware User Con kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, Grapevine. It is one of the larger VMware user gatherings in the Midwest where knowledgeable IT managers in the VMware ecosystem discuss all things virtualization. NCS will be there touting their expertise in desktop virtualization. Please stop by Booth #5.

No doubt attendees are interested in many aspects of virtualization, including public and private cloud services, hyper converged appliances, server and storage strategies and accelerating desktop virtualization. At these regional VMUGs the NCS experts will address all of these issues, with a special emphasis on the desktop.

IT administrators want to understand the differences between thin clients and zero clients and the ins and outs of various remote display protocols. At the Dallas Fort-Worth VMUG, we will have available virtualization experts to comprehensively discuss all of these hot button virtualization issues. Our booth staff includes Matt and Mike, who will explain how NCS zero client desktops improve manageability, reduce cost of ownership and improve security.

VMware User Group USERCON, Dallas Fort-Worth, Booth #5

The Dallas Fort Worth VMware User Con is Tuesday, October 10 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, Grapevine, TX. It is one of the larger VMware user gatherings in the Midwest and attracts knowledgeable IT managers in the VMware ecosystem and experts in virtualization. NCS will be there. Please come see us at Booth #5.

Attendees are interested in many aspects of virtualization, including public and private cloud services, hyper converged appliances, server and storage strategies and accelerating desktop virtualization. At these regional VMUGs NCS discusses all of these issues, with a special emphasis on the desktop.

IT administrators want to understand the differences between thin clients and zero clients and the ins and outs of various remote display protocols. At the Dallas Fort-Worth VMUG, we will have available virtualization experts to comprehensively discuss all of these hot button virtualization issues. Our booth staff will include Matt and Mike, who will be excited to talk about how NCS zero client desktops improve manageability, reduce cost of ownership and improve security.

NCS Partners with VMware and HP Enterprise

IT administrators face tremendous operational and budgetary challenges as cloud expenses rise, user apps proliferate driving complexity and non-integrated infrastructure within the datacenter becomes more and more difficult to administer. At the same time end users are willing to consider emerging desktop virtualization solutions, but are wary of application, protocol and performance issues. Within this framework administrators desire high performance, simplicity, efficiency and low cost of ownership.

NCS, with it virtualization partners VMware and HP Enterprise, have the capability to deliver all of the software and hardware components to empower IT to overcome all of these challenges, while reducing costs and complexity and delivering exactly the technology an organization needs.

HPE is the leader in hyperconverged infrastructure and delivers innovative, all-in-one virtualization solutions that integrate compute and software-defined storage into a single, easy-to-manage, software-define platform. The built-in capabilities in hyperconverged infrastructure technology help IT administrators address a range of critical challenges for managing infrastructure. HPE helps deliver seemless data center consolidation, data protection and disaster recovery and VDI scalability.

As HPE is a world leader on the datacenter side, NCS is emerging as a leading innovator for desktop virtualization.

NCS is also considered a world leader in its NCS-designed, patented and developed zero client end points, which lead the industry in innovation, ease of use and low cost of ownership. Our end points rely on VMware software, the most trusted virtualization platform for desktop applications.

NCS Technologies packages sophisticated IT infrastructure to support the need of the military and first responders to rapid deployment to the field. The need to be nimble and flexible to respond to military hotspots is obvious. And the current hurricane season also reinforces the need for rapid, flexible response for civilian agencies. The 2017 hurricane season has seen four Category 4 or stronger storms that have impacted the U.S. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico just received a direct hit from Hurricane Maria that has caused a 100% power outage on the island and colossal damage to infrastructure that will take years to repair.

With Deployable VDI, NCS envisioned building a packaged IT infrastructure capability to respond this type of need.

NCS offers hyper-converged back-end solutions and end points intelligently integrated into rugged transit cases. These cases are capable of supporting large numbers of clients in the field without losing centralized control while simultaneously delivering ease of maintenance. This approach also simplifies the IT aspects of the reset process that must occur upon returning from deployments. Our three solutions are:

Deepest Portfolio Meets Customer Challenges

NCS is contacted daily by IT administrators looking to implement manageable and cost-effective virtualization at the desktop. There are many ways to implement this, including installing new thin or zero client solutions.

Thin clients retain some kind of OS, such as Windows Embedded™ or a customized Linus OS. Administrators need to keep in mind that even a small OS provides an attack surface, and this can add some complexity to IT adminstration.

IT administrators must also remain mindful of which remote display protocol to use. There are many choices, with PCoIP and Blast being very popular. For VMware environments NCS customers tell us they are focused on strong security and a high-quality desktop experience. These customers often choose zero clients using the PCoIP protocol.

PC-over-IP (PCoIP) technology delivers a secure, high-definition and highly responsive computing experience. PCoIP compresses, encrypts and transmits only pixels to a broad range of software clients, mobile clients and stateless PCoIP Zero Clients, providing a highly secure enterprise environment. PCoIP was designed for interactive applications. It is a multi-codec solution that delivers the most accurate PC experience regardless of network conditions.

From a user’s perspective, there is no difference between working with a local computer loaded with software and an endpoint receiving a streamed pixel representation from a data center locally or in the cloud.

NCS is the world leader in productizing PCoIP zero client technology. NCS zero clients improve manageability, drive down cost of ownership and improve security. We have many satisfied customers all over the world.

Equifax Data Breach Means Continued Data Security Vigilance is Essential

The massive Equifax data breach illustrates once again that organizations who have the most at stake in protecting secrets can still be vulnerable to catastrophic missteps and security holes. These security laps may cause harm for years and even decades.

Equifax is a publicly-held company. Its business as an international credit bureau by definition makes it the repository to some of the most precious personal data in existence. Yet due to poor controls, the credit histories of 143 million people have now been exposed to the bad guys. In a similar way, government agencies hold extremely valuable secrets, many related to private information or national security. In recent years government agencies at all levels have proved vulnerable to significant data losses. The data breaches are well known and include agencies such as the National Security Agency, the office of Personnel Management, the Georgia Secretary of State, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. 

A critical aspect of good data security is protecting government information networks. Examples of protected information networks include NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). To access these networks, agencies may use multiple Virtual Machines on a single PC or workstation to access different classification levels. This may be most effeciently done through SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

VMworld Day 4 at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

Interest in desktop virtualization is a strong focus for many attendees at VMworld 2017 in Las Vegas. Many IT managers come to our booth to continue earlier discussions from weeks or even months ago. But there are also many IT administrators, who know little about us, who stop by to discuss "next steps". They have already virtualized the data center, perhaps even through private or public clouds services, and now they are ready to tackle the desktop.

The questions are many. What products does NCS offer? In what use cases are they typically implemented? How easy are they to manage? What are their price points? How secure are NCS zero clients?  Over the past few days we have also fielded many questions about the desktops virtualization protocols available. Since this is a VMware show, the two most popular VMware ecosystem protocols being discussed are PCoIP and Blast Extreme, but other protocols do come up.

It is the NCS view that the PCoIP protocol from Teradici continues to be the best choice over alternatives, primarly because of its proven manageability, iron-clad security and the overall performance - even in challenging high definition environments. 

PCoIP transfers the image of software running in the data center to any PCoIP end point (zero client). Because the protocol transfers only the pixel data location information, it's super secure - no secrets or personal data or business information ever leaves the data center. The PCoIP security module leverages the AES 256 and NSA Suite B cyphers, which meet the highest level of security required by governments.

In applications requiring higher bandwidth, PCoIP shines over Blast Extreme and the rest of the competition, including including Remote Desktop Protocol and HDX. If bandwidth becomes variable, competing protocols can deliver choppy screen results. But a PCoIP client, assisted by hardware acceleration, will maintain smooth video motion by slightly varying the resolution to optimize the viewing experience.

It is fair to say that Blast is creating strong interest from the VMware user base but from all comparable data administrators will still be better off by going with the PCoIP protocol.

VMworld Day Three at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

There are scores of vendors displaying solutions at VMworld 2017 and certainly major areas of interest include the cloud, storage and overall data center virtualization strategies. When it comes to VDI and the desktop, it is accurate to say that NCS Technologies is one of the key centers of expertise at the show. Since Sunday evening we have had more than 100 conversations with IT administrators from government, healthcare and the enterprise who are very knowledgeable about the relevent issues involving virtualizing the desktop. What is impressive is that they are coming to our booth to better understand how VMware, the PCoIP protocol and the comprehensive desktop product line from NCS can make a successful desktop virtualization strategy possible.

If you are at the giant virtualization event, please stop by NCS Booth #823 through tomorrow to learn how desktop virtualization can improve security and ease your IT administrative complexity.

VMworld Day One at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

Each year VMworld is the center of all things VMware and 2017 in Las Vegas is no different. VMworld 2017 kicked off this morning at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center.

If you are at the giant virtualization event, please stop by NCS Booth #823 through Wednesday to learn how desktop virtualization can improve security and ease your IT administrative complexity.

NCS is the world leader in productizing PCoIP zero client technology and our booth staff is available to highlight the benefits of zero clients against thin client offers. On the booth are Matt Cooke, Mike Turicchi and John Callahan, who can demonstrate laptop zero clients and long with a variety of desktop implementations. NCS zero clients improve manageability, drive down cost of ownership and improving security in desktop with customer installations all over the planet.

NCS Booth #232

The Air Force Information Technology & Cyberpower Conference opens today through Wednesday at the Montgomery Alabama Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center. NCS Technologies and partner Getac can be found at Booth #232.

AFITC is the gathering place for Air Force IT experts, academics and industry experts to discuss all things cybersecurity and IT. The conference offers a full slate of activities, with three days of speakers, education and training and many exhibits that demonstrate ways to better defend the military and country from cyber attacks and advanced persistent threats.

Visitors are interested in several cybersecurity topics, including rugged computing and how to best implement VDI. We will update you on user insights on the implementation of rugged computing solutions, and what the plans are to more fully implement desktop virtualization.