VMware User Group USERCON, Indianapolis

VMUG UserCon at the Indiana Convention Center wrapped up Tuesday as one of the larger VMware User Group regional events. As is typical of many of the larger meetings, there were hundreds in attendance. Traffic at the vendor tables was steady all day, and IT managers with broad virtualization experience asked thoughtful questions and probed with incisive enquiries about VDI, or desktop virtualization performance.

It was striking how many NCS Technologies table visitors said that 2018 is going to be "the year of VDI" or "the year we are going to virtualize". Attendees were hungry for the latest information about VDI and many asked about differences between thin client desktops and zero clients.

Our booth staff, including Matt and Joe, demonstrated a broad portfolio of notebook and desktop PCoIP zero clients from NCS. They were able to cite use cases from our many customers in North America and around the world, how these customers are improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improve security.

VMware User Group USERCON, Indianapolis

Today is one of the larger gatherings of VMware users, the annual Indianapolis VMUG UserCon at the Indiana Convention Center. VMUGs attract sophisticated IT managers quite comfortable with the ins and outs of virtualization, and the Indy VMUG is no exception. A fair amount of those walking the aisles still need to understand the differences between thin clients and zero clients, or to better understand how zero clients fit into their desktop virtualization strategies. Our booth staff, including Matt and Joe, are happy to talk about how NCS zero clients are improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security in desktop installations all over North America, Europe and Down Under.

Improve Manageability, Better ROI

In one of the larger VMware-themed events on the East Coast, hundreds of VMware users are gathering together Wednesday at the Philadelphia VMUG UserCon, held at King of Prussia, PA. VMware users go to network with fellow users, to attend educational sessions, to see the most innovative VMware ecosystem solutions and to experience product demonstrations first hand. A frequent goal at VMUG events is to explore how zero clients fit into desktop virtualization strategies. High up on many lists are the IT needs for improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security. In all of these metrics, zero clients from NCS Technologies outperform thin clients from the Tier One PC vendors.

10th Annual Small Business Procurement Conference

The Social Security Administation Thursday hosted its tenth annual procurement conference at the Mikulski Auditorium, Baltimore. The conference focused on providing updates on its Socio-Economic Programs and discussed Initiatives for Digital Services.  The conference is an annual event that allows small businesses to engage with contract representatives, SSA employees, contractors and other agencies.

Users Ponder the Alternatives

The one-day VMware expo Carolina VMUG UserCon is now over, having attracted hundreds of attendees in Charlotte yesterday. NCS staff attending the show met with nearly everyone and report that attendees were very interested in NCS virtual desktop solutions. As expected at VMUG events, sophisticated VMware users expressed hard requirements for improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security. In all of these metrics, zero clients from NCS Technologies outperform thin clients from the Tier One PC vendors.

An underlying thread to many of the discussions was an interest on the best remote display protocol to implement. Users are aware of choices including Remote Desktop Protocol, PCoIP, Blast and HDX. For the VMware environment, many agreed that RDP, HDX and Blast lacked the fuctionality required to deliver the full PC experience, and the consistency and manageability IT managers prefer.

VMware User Group USERCON, Carolina

Hundreds of VMware users are gathering in Charlotte today at the annual Carolina VMUG UserCon. Attendees are crowding around the NCS exhibition space to ask questions and explore how zero clients fit into their desktop virtualization strategies. Already this morning we are hearing about IT needs for improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security. In all of these metrics, zero clients from NCS Technologies outperform thin clients from the Tier One PC vendors.

PCoIP Shines in Both Virtual Desktop and Cloud Environments

Looking back at this very busy month, NCS executives spent a significant amount of time at government agencies, military bases, hospitals, at commercial establishments and participating at trade shows, promoting the ins-and-outs of desktop virtualization. At each stop we continue to find strong interest in PCoIP technology and in NCS zero client solutions, and curiosity about how they measure up against thin clients from the major PC brands.

These customers are becoming more aware every day that thin clients used for virtualization come with significant disadvanges. As they become experienced with thin clients, they are turned off that they are complex to administer. Thin clients often include a small hard drive, an embedded operating system and some memory. They are complex and expensive to use over the long run.  

PCoIP zero clients, in contrast, use an integrated purpose-built processor (from Teradici) that does image decompression and decoding, transmitting pixels instead of data. A zero client PC does not need a general purpose CPU, local storage or an application operating system. PCoIP zero clients are secure and easy to manage and deliver low cost of ownership.

VMware User Group USERCON, Milwaukee

NCS actively engages with VMware users, especially at the many User Group UserCons scheduled around the country every couple of weeks. This week NCS is at the 8th annual Wisconsin VMUG UserCon in Milwaukee. At this event users explore how zero clients fit into their desktop virtualization strategies. Hot topics of discussion include improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security. We had one of the most active tables in the meeting hall!

DOT Cybersecurity Summit 2017

Wednesday is Day Two at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Cybersecurity Summit 2017, DOT Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, D.C. NCS Technologies is an important supplier of security solutions to the military, intelligence and other civilian government agencies. Please stop by the NCS booth and talk to Lauren Mayoral, an expert of civilian agency IT issues. All government agency employees and contractors are invited to participate at this important event.

There are many critical components to IT security, starting with the filtering done by the service provider and extending to the robust security infrastructure provided at the data center. Continuing this philosophy of "security through layers of defense", the next security peremeter after the data center is the desk top or end user. Today at the show NCS is promoting the Cirrus family of virtual zero client end point devices which focus on strong security at the desk top or end user level.

Zero client virtual desktops and laptops are recognized at the best security at the end user level. Instead of continually implementing patches and updates, users of zero clients have security peace of mind because they benefit from AES-256 encryption and because there is no hard drive or local storage to attack, no OS to infect, no persistent user data to steal and no antivirus software needed.

NCS zero client end points lead the industry in innovation, ease of use and low cost of ownership. NCS solutions rely on the PCoIP protocol, which compresses, encrypts and encodes the entire computing experience at the data center. Information is transmitted as pixels across the IP network to the end points. Users have a high performance, fully-functional computing experience - even with HD. VMware is our virtualization platform of choice. This platform improves the availability, performance and utilization of IT resources. NCS zero clients are also optimized for Amazon Workspaces and Microsoft Azure cloud environments. 

U.S. Department of Transportation Focus on Cybersecurity

This week the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is focusing on cybersecurity by offering two days of training and educational sessions. Hosted by the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), the security summit is open to all federal agencies and is taking place at DOT Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, D.C.

Speakers from industry plus such agencies as DOT, NIST, HHS and OPM are talking about a broad range of cybersecurity topics including risks, management, industry innovation and operations issues.

NCS Technologies is a leader in supplying secure and reliable IT solutions to government agencies. NCS is an exhibitor at the DOT Cybersecurity Summit and is showcasing the Cirrus family of virtual zero client end point devices at this event. Please stop by the booth and talk to Lauren Mayoral, an expert of civilian agency IT issues.

A focus at this event is IT virtualization, particularly at the desktop or end point. NCS zero client end points lead the industry in innovation, ease of use and low cost of ownership. NCS solutions rely on the PCoIP protocol, which compresses, encrypts and encodes the entire computing experience at the data center. Information is transmitted as pixels across the IP network to the end points. Users have a high performance, fully-functional computing experience - even with HD. VMware is our virtualization platform of choice. This platform improves the availability, peformance and utilization of IT resources. NCS zero clients are also optimized for Amazon Workspaces and Microsoft Azure cloud environments.