• 99.9% uptime
• Hardened security (data and hardware)
• Simplified management
• Improved user ergonomics (more space, no heat/noise)
• 40% lower operating costs due to improved productivity (per IDC)

ClearCube has thousands of customers around the world in the financial services, government and education, healthcare and commercial and manufacturing industries. ClearCube has won numerous awards, including InfoWorld's prestigious “Technology of the Year Award" for the best blade system in 2006.

Background

ClearCube was founded in Austin , Texas in 1997 and is the recognized leader in the rapidly growing centralized computing and desktop virtualization market. This increasing trend is a result of global organizations seeking to reduce IT management costs by consolidating resources, improve manageability and enhance security while maintaining full PC capabilities for users. ClearCube has key strategic relationships with IBM Global Services, Intel, VMware and Microsoft. The company also engages with a variety of value added reseller and integrator partners who represent ClearCube solutions throughout the world.

The ClearCube Hardware Solution

The ClearCube solution is simple: condense the PC into an Intel-based "blade" form-factor, house it in a chassis and centralize it in a secure location. A small user port connects the monitor, keyboard, mouse and USB peripherals to the blade across a wired or wireless network. Users can also access their blades through a variety of industry standard access devices (e.g., tablets, PDAs) via a web browser. IT administrators remotely control the entire system from anywhere in the world using simple but powerful ClearCube management software (Sentral).

The ClearCube solution consists of the following components:

Blades are end user business computers that are centralized in a secure location. Access devices are small user ports that connect the user to a blade across a wired or wireless network. The client management software (Sentral) is a powerful console that allocates, switches and manages global deployments of access devices and blades.

• PC blade: an end user business computer that is rack-mounted in a secure location. ClearCube blades contain the latest Intel Pentium Dual-Core or Xeon processors, high-performance disk drives, DDR2 memory and PCI Express graphics cards.
• Chassis: enclosure that provides all of the Ethernet connections, user port connections, airflow management and power input to the blades.
• User port: a small access device that connects the end user's computing peripherals (monitor, keyboard, speakers, USB devices, mouse) to a ClearCube blade across a wired or wireless network. About the size of a paperback book, the user port has no fans, emits no noise and produces very little heat.
• ClearCube Sentral: enables IT administrators to manage global centralized infrastructure deployments from a single console. Sentral includes unique features such as connection brokering, virtual machine integration, remote BIOS upgrades, active health monitoring, multi-level security configuration and customized views and reporting. The software can also be leveraged to support virtualized desktops or other vendors' blade systems.

Markets and Customers

ClearCube serves multiple markets using a combination of worldwide channel partners and direct sales teams.

Financial Services

• Key business requirements: high uptime levels, compliance with federal privacy and reporting regulations (security), lower total cost of ownership, virtualized moves, more workspace, integrated business continuity, cost-efficient, grid computing, centralized management of remote and offshore development sites
• Customers (subset): Lehman Brothers, Millennium Partners, Chicago Board of Trade, WestLB, Insinger de Beaufort

Government & Education

• Key business requirements: hardened security, ability to access multiple secure networks from a single access point, high uptime levels, centralized management of remote and mobile deployments
• Customers (subset): The US Air Force, Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, NORAD; Duke, Hosei and Jackson State Univerisities

Healthcare

• Key business requirements: compliance with HIPAA regulations (security), elimination of on-site maintenance in sensitive areas, high uptime levels, more workspace, no equipment in patient rooms (patient safety), lower cost of ownership
• Customers (subset): Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group, Duncan Regional Hospital, William Backus Hospital, John C. Lincoln Hospital, Medical Center of Central Georgia, Memorial Health System

Commercial & Manufacturing

• Key business requirements: high uptime levels, enhanced security, no equipment in harsh environments, centralized management for remote or distributed facilities, lower total cost of ownership
• Customers (subset): AAA, Atmos Energy, Square Enix, Parker Hannifin, Lillian Vernon, Sysco Food, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Telvista, Twin Manufacturing