N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX
Partner FAQ
N-series launch at Citrix Synergy 2012 (San Francisco)
1. What did NComputing announce?
• NComputing demonstrated new thin clients resulting from our strategic collaboration with Citrix on the
advancements from the Citrix HDX Ready System-on-Chip (SoC) program. This complements the announce-
ment of the program at Synergy Barcelona in October 2011.
• Developed in close collaboration with Citrix, the new N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX, powered by
NComputing’s Numo™ 3 SoC technology, will have an immediate impact on the desktop virtualization mar-
ket through the creation of new high performance, highly ecient thin clients at radically lower price points
than current alternatives.
2. What does the N-series mean to the desktop virtualization market?
• The Citrix HDX Ready System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative and the new NComputing N-series thin clients repre-
sent a sea-change for desktop virtualization. NComputing will be able to accelerate the Citrix vision of “HDX
everywhere” through purpose-built, high performance, ultra-low energy and low-cost-per-user end points
powered by our Numo SoC technology. For the NComputing OEM ecosystem, our reference designs will
provide the foundation for entirely new product categories of HDX Ready devices and market opportunities.
3. Why is NComputing partnering with Citrix?
• Citrix and NComputing have a common vision to drive mainstream adoption of virtual desktops–for
everyone--and share a goal to eliminate the barriers of cost and complexity that have delayed adoption of
desktop virtualization to date.
• NComputing is a member of the Citrix Ready and HDX Ready SoC partner programs. The Citrix Ready pro-
gram enables full compatibility with Citrix virtualization infrastructure products. The Citrix HDX Ready SoC
program enables an amazingly rich user experience for virtual computing solutions. NComputing’s Numo 3
SoC for HDX technology completely redenes the market by setting a new level of performance at an indus-
try-leading price point. By bringing these two market-leading technologies together, enterprise customers
will be able to signicantly lower the initial acquisition and ongoing costs of virtual computing solutions.
4. What is the best place to get more info?
• http://www.ncomputing.com/HDX
Details of the N-series product line
5. What are the N-series products?
• The N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX is a new product family of thin clients based on the next-generation
NComputing Numo 3 SoC, which is purpose built to support Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop and VDI-in-a-Box,
and optimized for HDX. There are two models in the N-series product line and three products: the N400, the
N500, and the N500w.
6. What is the N400?
• NComputing’s entry-level HDX Ready device, the N400 is the thin cli-
ent of choice for task workers and those workers with light to aver-
age multimedia needs. The N400 combines the proven horsepower
of the 3rd-generation Numo™ 3 SoC with the deep understanding of
desktop virtualization to deliver an HD 720p video-capable device
with hardware acceleration and the features needed for most task-
oriented enterprise applications.
N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX
Partner FAQ
7. What is the N500?
• The workhorse of the NComputing portfolio, the N500 provides the
full multimedia capabilities demanded by knowledge workers and
users in other demanding media rich application environments.
The N500 incorporates full client-side rendering for the most ef-
cient delivery of multimedia content up to full HD at 1080p, as well
as options for dual display and wireless connectivity with the N500w
(not available with the N400). Also powered by the Numo™ 3 SoC,
the N500 sets the new standard for price/performance in the thin
client market with its rich set of features and capabilities.
8. What is the value of these new N-series products?
• For organizations looking to broaden their commitment to Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp, or VDI-in-a-Box, the
new NComputing N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX deliver 100% of the HDX experience at a fraction of the
cost of PCs or other thin clients. NComputing’s next-generation HDX-ready thin clients are powered by its
Numo™ 3 System-on-Chip, which delivers a high performance client supporting HD video sessions using
less than 5 watts of power. With full manageability, support, and at a low cost, enterprise organizations can
now cost-eectively extend their Citrix deployments to more users, allowing them to gain fuller access to the
many benets of desktop virtualization.
9. Are the N-series HDX Ready thin clients “cloud ready”?
• Yes, the N-series supports the HDX protocol and takes advantage of its unique ability to work with the low
bandwidth and high latency of a typical cloud environment.
10. Is the N-series Citrix HDX Ready?
• Yes, please visit the Citrix website for details:
N400 - http://www.citrix.com/ready/partners/ncomputing/products/n400
N500 - http://www.citrix.com/ready/partners/ncomputing/products/n500
N500w - http://www.citrix.com/ready/partners/ncomputing/products/n500w
11. What Citrix platforms and versions are supported?
• XenApp 6.0 & 6.5
• XenDesktop 5.0, 5.5 & 5.6
• VDI-in-a-Box 5.0
12. What OS support does the N-series oer?
• The N-series is designed to support Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp, and VDI-in-a-Box and supports the current
oering for these products’ desktop virtualization features.
13. What about management?
• Introduced in conjunction with the N-series thin clients, NComputing’s vSpace Management Center provides
a highly scalable, exible and easy to use single tool for thin client management with AD integration for
role-based access control. With its web-based console, IT administrators can manage their N-series devices
from anywhere and at anytime. vSpace Management Center helps you organize your N-series deployment,
whether it’s a single site or multiple sites – and makes it easy to perform critical management tasks remotely
including rmware updates, conguration changes, device resets and more.
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N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX
Partner FAQ
14. Is dual display supported by the N-series?
• Yes, dual display is available as an optional extra for the N500 in the form of a secondary display adapter that
connects to any USB port of the device. Dual display provides a maximum screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 –
the same as provided for the primary display.
15. Is Wi-Fi supported by the N-series?
• Yes. Wi-Fi is available as a factory tted optional extra for the N500w which provides support for 802.11b/g/n
networks.
16. Is smart card authentication supported by the N-series?
• Yes, smart card authentication using Imprivata is supported in the initial release of both the N400 and N500.
NComputing intends to target expanding this support to other authentication providers.
17. Does the N-series support non-Citrix platforms?
• No, the N-series is optimized for Citrix and HDX by design and does not support any other platforms.
18. When will the product be available?
• The N400 and N500 are available today.
19. How much do the N-series devices cost?
All N-series models come with and Enterprise bundle of 1 device license for vSpace Management
Center and the rst year of Premium Support (software upgrades, 24x7 technical support and
knowledgebase access) included in the one bundled price:
• The N400 list price is $159 USD
• The N500 list price is $229 USD
• The N500w adds factory installed WiFi to the N500 and the list price is $249 USD
Note: the list price for the N500/N500w secondary display adapter is $60 USD
20. What channels will the N-series be sold through?
• N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX can be obtained globally through select NComputing resellers and dis-
tributors who are Citrix authorized.
21. Will all current NComputing resellers be carrying the N-series products?
• No. However, a subset of NComputing resellers that are Citrix authorized will carry the N-series. NComputing
will evaluate prospective partners on an individual basis, regionally.
Technical innovation
22. Other SoC-enabled devices exist already, why are these dierent?
• Our Numo 3 is part of a next-generation, specialized breed of SoC technology initiated at the request of
Citrix to drive HDX adoption
23. What is a System on Chip (SoC)?
• A System on Chip (SoC) is an Application Specic Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that is specically designed to run
a specic environment; in this case to provide a full desktop virtualization experience.
• An SoC typically includes CPU’s, multiple buses (including memory and I/O buses), connectivity interfaces
(like Ethernet and USB)), audio and video logic (including CODECs), security, and cryptographic support, and
power saving features. With nearly a complete system on a single ASIC, an application can be created that is
very low in cost.
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N-series thin clients for Citrix HDX
Partner FAQ
24. What are the Numo 3 design specs that support the HDX SoC Ready program?
• Numo3 includes a number of CODECs (code-decoders) that are utilized in the N500 to provide direct hard-
ware support for accelerated video support. This support not only improves the video quality but also helps
o-load tasks on the host server that enables greater user density per server and less network bandwidth
consumption. The SoC technology implemented in the N-series is a win-win-win implementation as it repre-
sents a win for lower cost thin clients, a win for lower server costs and a win for lower infrastructure costs.
• The latest generation of the Numo chip is based on a high performance multi-core, ARM Cortex A9 CPU with
a custom multimedia engine that supports a broad array of compression & decompression technologies.
With power consumption at less than 2 watts, it provides computation capabilities that are similar and in
some scenarios better than modern PCs but a fraction of the cost and power envelope. Further information
on Numo 3 can be found at: http://www.ncomputing.com/products/technologies.
25. How does support for the Citrix SoC program work?
• The N-series features a newly developed Citrix Receiver that has been optimized to run on SoC based thin
clients. Since the Barcelona SoC program announcement the NComputing and Citrix engineering teams
have been working in close collaboration to bring this technology to market.
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© Copyri ght 2015 ZeroD esktop, I nc. All righ ts reser ved. NComp uting® is a di vision of Ze roDesk top. Other t rademar ks and trad e names are th e proper ty of their
respective owners. Preliminary beta speci cations subject to change without notice. Performance may vary, depending on the con guration of the shared computer.
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