Alberta – Calgary – Calgary
Corporation
www.userful.com
Alberta
Calgary
Calgary
Corporation
active
Operating name: Userful
Userful Corporation is the world's leading Linux desktop virtualization company with millions of users in over 100 countries. The company's software which turns 1 computer into 11 lowers desktop computing costs, improves manageability, and reduces both electricity consumption and e-waste. Userful's software is sold through a partner network of resellers and OEMs worldwide. Privately held and founded in 1999, Userful launched their flagship product in 2002, and has since sold over 750,000 seats.
Country of Ownership: Canada
Year Established: 1999
Exporting: Yes
Primary Industry (NAICS): 541510 - Computer Systems Design and Related Services
Primary Business Activity: Services
Number of Employees: 50
Services:
Userful desktopâ„¢
Products:
Userful multiseatâ„¢
Sector:
Success Stories: World€™s Largest Virtual Desktop Deployment – The Brazilian Ministry of Education Deploys 356,800 Linux Stations with Userful MultiSeatâ„¢
When the Brazilian government set out to expand computer access in its schools, they had a broad and important set of goals. Based on the knowledge that improved computer access in K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions leads to a more skilled workforce, a narrower €œdigital divide€?, a more diversified economy, and wider participation among all citizens in the knowledge-based economy, the government set a plan in motion. For the long term, to have an entire workforce educated in using information and communication technology, and within the next five years, to make computer access a part of everyday life for a growing generation of Brazilian children.
To make these goals feasible, the Brazilian Ministry of Education needed to deploy the most cost-effective desktops possible in their computer labs. ThinNetworks (A Userful Partner) and Daruma proposed a low-cost, high performance Linux desktop solution that allows five students to work at the same time on a single desktop Linux computer, with the PC-sharing hardware and software costing 60% less than a traditional PC-per-seat solution. Each student has their own monitor, keyboard and mouse with a full desktop experience and access to all the necessary educational applications.
The Brazilian Ministry of Education faced many daunting challenges. They needed to deploy and manage desktops in multiple educational sectors spread across a wide geographic area; maximize their IT budget for computers, software, maintenance and support; reduce software licensing costs; reduce the expense and downtime of battling computer threats such as viruses, malware and hackers; minimize the amount of electricity used and reduce e-waste and pollution.
In addition to these challenges which are faced by all school districts around the world, the Brazilians faced unique infrastructure challenges. The deployments included remote schools in indigenous villages where infrastructure is minimal, electricity is unreliable, there is little physical space, and roads are impassable by cars.
Userful, ThinNetworks, and Daruma came together to provide a low-cost, high performance computing solution: one high performance computer powering five independent stations. Daruma provided the PC€™s, ThinNetworks provided the video cards, audio hubs and the heart of the project--Userful MultiSeat software. Compared to a traditional PC-per-seat solution, The Brazilian Ministry of Education is saving 60% in up-front costs, 80% in annual power savings, additional savings in ongoing administration and support costs, and five years down the road only 1/5th the number of computers will need to be upgraded.
The initial pilot project has the students of rural Brazil enjoying 18,750 new stations in over 3,800 new computer labs. The Ministry of Education has greatly reduced their technical costs for years to come. They used to spend R$18,000 on each traditional computer lab; the new computer labs using Userful MultiSeat can be deployed for as little as R$6,000. Following up on the success of this pilot, ThinNetworks,and other strategic partners are deploying hundreds of thousands more Userful MultiSeat Linux desktops for Brazilian schools. Other countries are following Brazil€™s lead and are taking advantage of Userful€™s ability to turn one computer into ten.
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Profile ID: LFCA-COD-O-9324