Net-PC : Another Low-cost Dream?

Conventions are hard to break but once in a while we see initiatives that
challenge what has been accepted and used for years. The desktop PC is a bulky
monitor, a big cabinet and a maze of cables and ports. Even as PC vendors in the
last two years have taken to ultra-mini desktop form factors, the conventional
desktops still rule supreme. It is in this back drop that Alok Singh, the CEO
and MD of Chennai based Novatium Solutions has launched its netPC in January of
this year for the mass markets. Says singh, NetPC takes a platform approach and
gives what is needed for the user, and unbundled software and hardware
complexity is involved in traditional desktop systems.

While the company calls its platform as Nova, if we take the technology
behind, it is a typical SaaS based virtualization model that unplugs the
services and hardware by making both remote. The cost of the Nova netPC is
around Rs 4k and depending upon the open to proprietary applications the user
pays a subscription starting from Rs 175 per month. The company has also tied up
with telcos like BSNL, and bundles broadband plans with its netPC.

The most significant value of the Nova netPC is the cost and simplicity of technology Alok Singh, CEO and MD Novatium Solutions

You can call it the next evolution in consumer desktops. Our approach is
based on the model that computing in time will be seen as a commodity, just like
satellite TV channels distributed through DTH. Similarly, we deliver what the
lay user needs in terms of consumer PC applications as a service. In the bargain
what the user gets is a simplified and highly agile computing with zero
manageability issues, since we maintain the applications and the hardware, there
is absolutely no possibility of obsolescence.

The netPC is a first of its kind initiative in India. On a global level one
has seen concepts like the network is the computer and ideas like network
computing mooted by Oracle a decade back. But network computing model did not
take off since it is not the core business of Oracle. Other vendors did not give
it a serious thought due to lack of a business model. Given this Novatiums
netPC is a daring initiative. Going by the initial response the company has
managed to get around 7,000 subscriptions in pockets like Chennai, Bangalore and
Delhi.

How it Works

When a user buys the netPC, one gets a CPU called Navigatora small tower
cabinet that has a form of just about the size of cable STB and a standard
monitor and keyboard. The box is powered by Intel Atom Processor and has the
conventional ports like Ethernet, USB etc. The user through broadband connects
the netPC to the remote server and starts using it by leveraging the
applications on the server. The applications are distributed on most popular
usage categories like the Internet, document, games and utilities. And the user
can add accordingly to the needs.

The most significant value of the Nova netPC is the cost and the simplified
access to technology. We have cut down on the clutter and made the desktop neat,
compact and highly user friendly for the not so computer savvy people. It is
totally plug and play, and everybody would be up and running the PC and browsing
the Internet in minutes, says Alok.

Shrikanth G

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in