Elo Touch Solutions (Elo), the original inventor of touchscreen technology and a portfolio company of The Gores Group, has expanded its zero-bezel touch technology portfolio with the IntelliTouch Pro projected capacitive (PCAP) solution. Elo's IntelliTouch Pro solution set includes touchscreen, controller and software from a proven and trusted supplier with global support capabilities. Elo field application engineering and development resources stand ready to help OEM customers successfully integrate PCAP touch capabilities into intelligent systems for the automotive, banking, gaming, healthcare, hospitality, industrial automation, retail, transportation and other commercial applications. IntelliTouch Pro is unique in its ability to be performance optimized for Microsoft Windows 8.1 touch specifications, or focus on optical clarity that brings to life the vivid colors and HD graphics of today's software. IntelliTouch Pro delivers from 10 touch capability at screen sizes up to 32 inches, with roadmap offerings that scale to support up to 60 touches on 4K, 8K and 16K screens over 100 inches in size. "This is a great new offering that combines Elo's deep expertise in touchscreens, controllers, and drivers with our unmatched system integration experience," said Craig Witsoe, CEO Elo Touch Solutions. "While many suppliers are focused on consumer applications of PCAP such as phones and tablets, Elo specialized in commercial and industrial applications which require higher performance and more specialized custom application characteristics. As the original inventors of touchscreens and a global leader in touchscreen technology, our application engineers are able to help our customers determine the right solution for their specific application." Elo leverages its research, design, manufacturing, customization and support capabilities to help you avoid integration issues, enable touch on boarders, create unique shapes and curves, and incorporate your logo into your final products. IntelliTouch Pro can be integrated with a variety of cover glass including Corning Gorilla Glass; tempered; chemically strengthened; heat strengthened, anti-glare coatings, and increased cover glass thickness. Injected noise immunity, palm rejection, contaminant rejection, and fast drag response are all enabled through Elo's unique controller firmware and driver software. Going beyond traditional USB HID drivers, Elo drivers support Apple Mac OS, Google Android, Linux, and Microsoft Windows operating systems while providing enhanced capabilities such as touch on release, touch exclusion zones, touch count restrictions, edge acceleration, beep on touch and a real-time application programming interface. IntelliTouch Pro PCAP technology complements Elo's other zero-bezel touchscreen technologies including the patented iTouch/IntelliTouch ZB surface acoustic wave (SAW) and AccuTouch ZB five-wire resistive touchscreens. All Elo touchscreens are professional-grade and built for continuous use in public environments. Available worldwide, samples of the IntelliTouch Pro solution can be requested and feature a standard 3-year warranty. Elo will be demonstrating IntelliTouch Pro at SID Display Week 2014 from June 1-6 in San Diego, California and Computex from June 3-7 in Taipei, Taiwan. IntelliTouch Pro projected capacitive touch solutionsPhoto: Company White papers: IntelliTouch Pro projected capacitive touch solutionsIntelliTouch surface acoustic wave touch solutionsAccuTouch five wire resistive touchscreens

Good Way Technology, a global leading USB peripherals and Docking solution provider, has announced the DU3710 USB Power Delivery Docking station and Thunderbolt 2 Docking at Computex Taipei.Good Way Technology's major launch this year at Computex is DU3710 USB PD docking station and DisplayPort, which is enabling power over USB PD for notebooks, LCD monitors and other peripherals delivering up to 100 Watts at 20V, 10 times the power of USB3.0 power solutions. It is equipped with three USB3.0 downstream ports, one HDMI port with resolution up to 2048x1152, one DVI-I port with the same upper resolution limit of HDMI port, one stereo audio out and one mac in port and one Gigabyte Ethernet port. The AC power adaptor is 150W (12V/12.5A).DU3710 USB PD docking features• Support switchable power source of USB PD without changing cable• Backup of video display with resolution up to 2048x1152 through HDMI and DVI-I ports• Backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 cables and connectors • Coexist with USB battery charging 1.2 specificationGood Way Technology Thunderbolt 2 docking station is expected to go into production by the third quarter of 2014. This product line has two models, the DB2020 and DB 2120, featuring three USB3.0 downstream ports, one Mini DisplayPort supporting resolution up to 4K2K through Thunderbolt Port or Daisy chain with the same Thunderbolt Port, one HDMI port with same upper resolution limit of 4Kx2K, one stereo audio out and one mic in port and one Gigabyte Ethernet port. To meet the demands for handling massive files in 4K video production, DB2020/DB2120 is equipped with Thunderbolt 2 ports that can be daisy-chained to connect up to a maximum of six Thunderbolt 2 devices.DB2020/DB2120 Thunderbolt 2 docking Features• Support to connect USB 3.0 / Lan / HDMI display through single Thunderbolt cables• Support Daisy chain up to six Thunderbolt devices• Support 4K display for both HDMI and DisplayPort through Thunderbolt port• Support USB BC1.2 charging (1 port in the front )Good Way is displaying its Thunderbolt 2 docking, at the Intel booth of Computex Taipei 2014. For more information, visit: www.goodway.com.tw or go to booth #C0506 of the Taipei World Trade Exhibition Hall.

The concept of intelligent transportation does not emerge suddenly. It did not go well not only because it lacked effective data collection sensors and equipment but also because it relied deeply on image recognition technology, which is prone to be affected by the environment. But now, it is very likely to break the deadlock by making good use of eTag, which serves over 5.8 million users.YDT, founded in 1989 as a subsidiary of Far Eastern Group to develop security and surveillance solutions primarily, has gained experience and know-how by cooperating with Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co, Ltd. in implementing ETC, developing OBU, and RFID solutions. YDT has been acquiring more and more knowledge and competence in the ITS market gradually and rolling out more and more derivative applications.Eric Wu, Director of YDT's Operation & Projects Department, indicated that one of the important elements of developing ITS is to install a detection device in the car for gathering information, and this will facilitate subsequent applications. Therefore, an OBU is not only a highway toll collection device, but also an independent account made for every car that can be used as an e-wallet for parking, refueling and other commercial purposes, as well as applications like emergency assistance and road planning. Its potential can be maximized in every way.Due to the high cost of OBUs, it is not easy to expand their penetration; ETC in other countries has faced similar obstacles. Therefore, YDT assisted Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co, Ltd. in developing their own RFID-based ETC system and constructed 319 gantries. With this experience, YDT also has built up its foundation for developing specialized RFID tags as a unique type of "OBU" for high-speed tolling environment. And because of the low cost of producing eTag, Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co, Ltd. decided to absorb the cost itself and offered free installation for vehicles installing it for the first time. Up to January 2014, the ETC usage rate reached to 92%, with six million vehicles having installed it.The Pioneer in RFID-Based Multi-Lane Free Flow ETCEric Wu pointed out that having dealt with numerous users, gained much experience in developing anti-interference RFID and acquired the capability of gathering information accurately, YDT has been inspired and started to develop ITS applications. It was thought to be difficult to implement these applications, but they have now been put into practice gradually. For the government sector, YDT applied their solutions to assist Taoyuan County in building up a system for estimating average travel time on central expressways. Besides, YDT also has expanded into the commercial market, starting from smart parking solutions for Farglory Smart Mansion and then Taichung Veterans General Hospital, etc., as well as other massive projects, such as the one at TSMC's 2,000-space parking lot that allows the gate to open faster, shows drivers the routes to the parking spaces, and provides parking space information with their integrated RFID and ANPR technology. YDT has proven its abilities on the ITS market and smart parking solutions with those outstanding works.In the near future, once Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Financial Supervisory Commission approve the use of eTag as a cash equivalent, eTag will then become a convenient alternative payment method. For example, gas station could charge drivers via their eTag accounts based on the amount of gas that has been fueled and save their waiting time on making payments. In addition, drivers could enter parking lots faster without rolling down the window to get the ticket/token as well as putting in paid tickets/token on their way out. This represents a whole new parking solution in a better, greener, cost effective operation scheme.Eric Wu emphasized that the RFID-Based Multi-Lane Free Flow ETC in Taiwan is definitely the first in the world, especially when fee-charging demands accuracy and precision that is not easy to achieve. In order to solve the RF radio wave overflow problem, YDT has been well-experienced in every perspective. No matter in measuring, planning, designing the antenna angles and power adjustment, YDT has made it all workable in both the domestic and overseas markets.Lynette Wu, Marketing Manager of YDT, indicated that they have been known and gotten opportunities in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Eastern Europe and other markets by cooperating with local partners, exhibitions, paper releases and speeches. Also, they assist in setting up a highway toll system in one of South Asia countries and will be launched soon.Moreover, YDT is planning to participate and exhibit in 21st ITS World Congress - Detroit 2014 by presenting the RFID-based ETC solution and their internally-developed Lane System Integration Platform, Mediation Platform and the EMD (Electronic Metal Detector) device. As for Taiwan, they will present a concise and user-friendly Plug & Play RFID parking management system in December 2014 at Taipei International Building, Construction and Decoration Exhibition. YDT is aiming to win domestic and overseas user's favor with their products and know-how with description of practical cases.YDY Technology creates a variety of ITS total solutions based on superior RFID technologyPhoto: Company

Compuware is exhibiting its full range of power supply products at Computex 2014, Booth i0518, Nangang Exhibition Center. The exhibits include the CRPS 80Plus Titanium series, hot swappable battery backup unit, high-density redundant power module, network equipment power module, DC power module, and blade server power module.CRPS series: A 1000- 2000W high-wattage design, with more than 96% transforming efficiency. It has acquired the 80Plus Titanium certificate, in a digital power design structure with embedded PMBus 1.2 functions to monitor power conditions. It enables the system to adjust power operation modes at anytime, and enhances the application, security and reliability of the system.Hot swappable battery backup module: This provides 200-1000W for selection, and overturning the data center power structure it combines the power supply and battery backup module. It is built into the server systems. It can replace the UPS (uninterruptable power supply), and enhance the utilization of the space of data centers efficiently. It doesn't need UPS as the intermediary for power sources. It increases the entire transformation efficiency by 8%, and it decreases the PUE value of data centers efficiently, in order to achieve energy savings and carbon reductions.High-density redundant power module: It provides a building-block modularized solution, and offers a selection from 500-2000W. It combines intelligent digital power design, and enables the IT staff to remotely access and acquire the related real-time information on power efficiency, voltage, currents, temperatures through PMBus during system operation. This can enhance the reliability of the system, and energy savings. Moreover, it has passed the 80Plus Titanium certification, with 96% power efficiency, and the power factor remaining at 0.99 plus. It considerably improves the reliability and reduces the setup cost of data centers.DC power module: This series provides 600-1100W medium to high wattage, with high transformation efficiency up to 92%. It supports hot-swap functions and provides N+1 expansion function for the systems. It is primarily applicable for telecommunication system infrastructure. Furthermore, it can reduce the magnetic interruption from the DC power source to analog signals. This series has passed the international safety certificates and standard tests of many countries.Blade server power module: It offers 1600-3000W super high wattage design, with power efficiency up to 94%, and has acquired the 80Plus Platinum level certification. This series provides blade server N+1 redundant power expansion function, and increases the system reliability and the flexibility of paring and loading.In response to the demands of green data centers, Compuware uses green technology to create green power supplies. It has built an international green image brand and has fulfilled its corporate social responsibility.For relevant information, please visit Compuware Technology's website: http://www.compuware.com.tw/Compuware showcases green technology at Computex 2014Photo: Company

The largest ICT trade show in Asia and the second largest in the world, Computex Taipei 2014, attracting over 130,000 visitors, including 38,000 international visitors with 1,700 exhibitors using 5,000 booths, will be held during 6/3-6/7. The motherboard leading manufacturer ECS will demonstrate product diversity and innovation along with the new product announcement during this event. Welcome to find out more at ECS Booth L0118 Nangang Hall, Taipei.After Intel released its 9-Series chipset in May 2014, ECS' high-end gaming brand, L337 GAMING, has launched its brand-new Z97-MACHINE with Intel Z97 Express chipset, a gaming-oriented motherboard with world-class ESS SABRE audio to rock gamers' sounding experience. Also two new L337 GAMING family members with ITX form factor, Z97I-DRONE and H97I-DRONE, will be globally announced at Computex. Besides gaming motherboards, ECS emphasizes the importance of customer satisfaction and tries to fulfill different aspects of motherboard applications, such as multimedia, business, and industrial PC, ECS provides a total solution for different needs. Other than motherboards, the highly asked LIVA Mini PC Kit, recently released in Taiwan and Japan, will be the most anticipated highlight at Computex. With only 190g, a PC consumes just as a light bulb, LIVA is not only the world's smallest Windows-based mini PC kit but also a milestone of how people change the perception of using computers. At LIVA Section at ECS Booth, there will be the "Design Your Own LIVA" competition final. All the participants are able to vote for the masterpieces and get the opportunities to win grand prizes. As of the growing all-in-one PC, ECS shows great determination in introducing innovation. G24 with 4K Ultra HD monitor demonstrates astonishing visual possibility and only 3100g V20 with fan-less thermal design defines brilliant sounding in silence.Besides the exciting ECS new products, there will be plenty of shows and activities, and a special bonus will be presented to ECS visitors during Computex. Come visit ECS Booth at Computex Taipei 2014.About ECS (Elitegroup Computer Systems)ECS, the Elitegroup Computer Systems, was established in 1987, and is approaching its 27th year of business. More than two decades, ECS has overcome a great deal of obstacles facing new businesses and has experienced the joy of significant growth and development. Its main focus has expanded to not only motherboards, but also desktop and notebook computers, graphics cards and other mobile products. ECS is strongly committed to develop cutting-edge technology in order to generate innovative products under environmental friendly designs. ECS comprehensive system of quality control provides our clients with reassurance and fosters long term cooperation. Visit http://www.ecs.com.tw to learn more.

Conexant has announced at Computex the CX20952, a new HD Audio CODEC that enables high quality audio on computers and tablets with low power consumption, two cap-free headphone amplifiers, and a fully-integrated Class-D amplifier. Part of Conexant's AudioSmart family, the new CX20952 is also an intelligent device: a single-chip solution that monitors power delivered to speakers, ensuring maximum sound pressure level (SPL) and optimal performance without damage to system components.Differentiated from standalone smart amplifier solutions, Conexant's fully-integrated CX20952 enables a smaller motherboard footprint and lower bill of materials (BOM) cost for applications that do not require the high output power of a large, discrete device. The new SoC is designed to meet consumer demand for high quality audio that pushes the limits of sound in tablets and compact PCs.With two cap-free HP/Line outputs and a universal jack that automatically detects and configures itself to support CTIA (Apple) or OMTP (Nokia) style headsets, Conexant's high quality CX20952 solution delivers the following key features required for low-power, small form factor devices:- Support for multiple peripheral types (headphones, headsets, powered speakers, microphones and line-in devices) with a single 3.5mm audio jack.- Support for an additional direct-drive headphone output on a docking station or second jack panel.- Loud, clear audio playback from small speakers in space-limited enclosures (typical of today's compact industrial designs)."Consumers are beginning to expect the same high level of performance and clarity from audio as they have become accustomed to with HD video," noted Saleel Awsare, Conexant vice president and general manager. "Our entire AudioSmart product line is designed to address users' high expectations for a better, clearer, richer audio experience - and the new CX20952 does it all in a single chip."Additional features include:- Stereo AudioSmart Class-D Speaker Amplifier for intelligent delivery of up to 2.8W per channel - Integrated Hardware EQ/DRC with SpeakerShield Class-D protection- Mono Output with tunable hardware LPF/BPF for subwoofer applications- Up to four digital microphones supporting advanced configurations for tablets, convertibles, clamshells and AIOs - Analog PC BEEP, EAPD and GPIOs- I2C interface allowing real-time software control of auxiliary devices- D3 Live supporting pass-through audio playback to Class-D with active EQ/DRC while system is asleepComputex attendees are encouraged to stop by Conexant's suite at Pacific Business Center PBC Hotel, Meeting Room D during the show to get a first-hand look at the new audio CODEC in action. Please visit www.conexant.com for more details.About ConexantConexant Systems, Inc., an audio and imaging innovation leader, combines its significant IP portfolio in DSP, analog and mixed signal technology with embedded software to deliver highly innovative silicon and software solutions to enrich and expand audio and imaging capabilities. Both enterprise and consumer markets are addressed by Conexant's AudioSmart and ImagingSmart solutions. Products with the company's technology built-in include PCs, tablet computers, TVs, headsets, printers, video monitors, game consoles and a variety of other devices. Founded in 1999, Conexant is a privately-held fabless semiconductor company headquartered in Irvine, Calif. with offices and design centers worldwide. To learn more, please visit www.conexant.com.Contact:Stephanie OlsenLages & Associates(949) 453-8080stephanie@lages.com

PROMISE Technology, a storage industry global leader, has announced that it will showcase its complete line of storage solutions for the cloud/IT, video surveillance and rich media markets, including the new Pegasus2 M4, Vess R2000 high-availability NAS, and VTrak G-Class NAS Gateway, at Computex Taipei 2014.Computex is an important event that offers an excellent platform for PROMISE to engage our partners and customers and to showcase our customer-oriented solutions for the cloud/IT, video surveillance and rich media markets, like the Pegasus2 R8 which was named the top storage solution at this year's show, said James Lee, CEO, PROMISE Technology. "A major theme for PROMISE at Computex is to demonstrate how we have evolved from a storage component designer and manufacturer to a leading solution developer and the full-scale demos we have prepared will illustrate exactly how the company is addressing the most pressing challenges facing our customers."Featuring a range of cloud solutions from IaaS to SaaS, PROMISE will showcase a portfolio of storage solutions that enables users to expand their capabilities, whether they require a robust cloud infrastructure or innovative applications, including FileCruiser, PROMISE's Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing solution that is ideal for a wide range of vertical markets, including education, healthcare, SMB and enterprise IT, governments and more. Additionally, for SMB and Enterprise IT customers, the new Vess R2000 high availability dual controller NAS solution will be demoed to illustrate how it can be deployed in virtualization, backup and many more environments.With the growing adoption of 4K video, content creators are faced with serious infrastructure challenges as they require more capacity and there are latency and bandwidth issues. PROMISE will showcase its end-to-end storage solutions that will help creative professionals be 4K-ready, including Pegasus2 with Thunderbolt 2 which provides performance for content creators who need storage on the field and can connect directly to the VTrak A-Class shared storage appliance. Additionally, the demos will feature the new VTrak G1100 NAS Gateway which provides 10Gb Ethernet access to the A-Class appliance, allowing multiple users to simultaneously edit video for post-production and broadcasting.Video surveillance plays an increasingly important role for many businesses and organizations and PROMISE's Vess A2000 storage appliances will be featured in demos with video management software from Milestone Systems and AxxonSoft. The demonstrations provide an in-depth look at the innovative solutions that enable customers to efficiently manage higher resolution video while providing reliable access to content at impressive speeds with a robust infrastructure that serves as a secure foundation for an effective IP video surveillance platform. Additionally, guests can try the Surveillance Solution Planner and see firsthand how this valuable tool from PROMISE makes it easier to design a solution for the requirements of each project.For more information, join PROMISE in Taipei at booth #J0418 at the NanGang Exhibition Center from June 3-7.

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading IT product manufacturer will showcase a new IoT solution at Computex: a BRIX mini-PC coupled with the Intel Gateway Solution for Internet of Things (IoT). This solution features a pre-installed software and hardware platform containing a Wind River Linux 5.01, and security and management features. GIGABYTE expects to simplify the deployment of IoT products for its customers as the solution allows secure data aggregation, filtering, and analysis from edge devices to the cloud through Ethernet or WiFi connections.As an associate member of the Intel IoT Solutions Alliance, GIGABYTE understands that customers require readily-available solutions to tackle the complexity of IoT infrastructure. That is why GIGABYTE has worked with Intel to develop this compact size system integrated with the Intel Gateway Solution as an intelligent internet gateway product. Intel and GIGABYTE have been working together to accelerate the development and deployment of the Internet of Things, which in turn helps to drive business transformation.Measuring only 4.2 x 4.5 x 2.2 inches, the BRIX is a compact system designed for IoT applications such as power grid, factory automation and much more. The BRIX offers a LPC header onboard which can be extended to four COM connections for sensors or data aggregation control devices, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, a USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports. In addition, it also comes with one half-size mini PCIe slot that supports a Wi-Fi network card.The BRIX is pre-installed with the Intel Gateway Solution for IoT which bundles the Wind River Linux 5.01, Wind River IDP 2.0, McAfee security functionalities, and a wide variety of connectivity protocols and programming environments. This brings the benefits of IoT to legacy infrastructures with device management and data sharing through a system. Customers do not need to replace existing infrastructure and are able to securely aggregate, share, and filter data from the edge to the cloud and finally, are able to focus on new value-added services thanks to this turnkey solution.We cordially invite you to visit us at COMPUTEX 2014, booth D0002 in TWTC Hall 1 and experience our innovative development. To learn more about GIGABYTE Intelligent IoT Gateway, please visit b2b.gigabyte.comPhoto: Compnay

Shuttle, an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of small form factor (SFF) PC solutions and mobile internet devices, is highlighting its latest innovations during Computex 2014. Shuttle is showcasing its high-performance XPCs, digital signage players, its EDUPAL education solution, as well as its ODM designs at their head office on June 2-7, 2014.In 2010, the consumer PC manufacturer launched its "Application PC for Business" platform and has seen great success across vertical markets. Rooted in 30 years of SFF research and design, the company has demonstrated its ability to provide reliable products that can be integrated with a variety of software to meet the needs of diverse industries.New from ShuttleMini-computer hardware for vertical ARM-based signage hardware: DSA2LS and DSA2LVIn response to growing market demand for cost-effective media players, Shuttle designed an ARM-based player and motherboard solution. The series includes the DSA2LS signage player and DSA2LV motherboard both made to deliver quality media with a Freescale i.MX6DL 1Ghx dual-core processor and Full-HD 1080p playback capability.Windows-based signage players: Entry-level to high-performanceShuttle has a number of signage players, including players made to drive video walls with 4K imaging, support fanless Intel Bay Trail technology and high-performance Intel Haswell/Haswell Refresh technology, and players made to connect with multiple peripherals. Whether for entry-level or high-performance applications, Shuttle has built in as much flexibility and performance into each product as possible to support the latest digital signage innovations in each segment.EDUPAL Smart School SolutionEDUPAL is the most holistic solution in today's education market. Over the past five years, Shuttle's R&D team has worked meticulously on their education solution, EDUPAL. EDUPAL is an industry-leading Android-based educational solution designed with innovative and user-friendly UI with proven success to enhance the learning process in school systems.For classroom useEDUPAL Classroom is dedicated to teachers and students in their daily classroom process. It includes two classroom management interfaces, "PC to Pad" or "Pad to Pad", allowing teachers to effectively manage classrooms while better understanding a student's learning process in class.For school managementEDUPAL School is for school administrators and is designed to create a modern learning environment that syncs teachers, students, and parents on an easy-to-manage digital platform. It includes EDUPAL Classroom management products with options for E-Library and Homework expansion packs to enhance students' reading and out-of-class learning.For government and large scale education institutionsEDUPAL Cloud integrates is a complete package which includes EDUPAL School and EDUPAL Classroom products and is made to help governments and educational institutions manage multiple school districts. EDUPAL Cloud helps build up smart school education systems that sync the classroom, the school, and the department of education together on a digital cloud.Digital library in schoolEDUPAL Library features a strong content management backend system which supports e-reader tool and helps publishers and school administrators build a content protected platform to manage digital content. For end-users like teachers and students, EDUPAL Library provides a resource that is easily accessible from mobile devices anywhere.Shuttle ODM 2-in-1 and Windows-ARM tabletShuttle's ODM business has been focusing on the LOEM market sector since 2010, while gradually gaining worldwide LOEM customers' recognition for its innovative ecosystem. Shuttle has improved its supply-chain and generated new SPA (Shuttle Standard PCBA) form factor technology, providing its customers a more competitive ODM service. This COMPUTEX Shuttle is going to introduce its latest product line-up which includes 2-in-1 tablets and Windows-ARM tablets made with sleek IDs and competitive cost structure.Shuttle introduces its first ARM-based digital signage solution with Android operating systemPhoto: CompanyMore than 4,000 teachers and students use EDUPAL solution in daily teaching and learningPhoto: CompanyAbout ShuttleFounded in 1983 in Taiwan, Shuttle Inc. is one of the world's leading electronics manufacturers in providing trusted and innovative computing hardware and software solutions for home, business, and vertical application.With 30 years' motherboard and graphics card manufacturing and leading in small form factor barebone design, Shuttle now offers a full product line of consumer and commercial electronics, including barebone, All-in-One PCs, NAS, notebooks, tablets, digital signage players, facial recognition systems, educational turnkey solution and others. For more information, visit www.shuttle.com

Over the past 10 years the commercial computing market has been enamored with the idea of being able to move data and heavy computation to a central resource, where it can be accessible by the many rather than just the one. You hear about it when companies trumpet cloud computing and discuss virtualization, especially in the context of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), client consolidation infrastructure (CCI) and hosted virtual desktops (HVD). While the market potential for virtualization is huge, it has remained widely untapped. However, when NVIDIA launched its Kepler-based GRID virtual GPU (vGPU) solutions last year, for the first time, the market saw true hardware virtualization of the GPU. Since then, an excited ecosystem has been gearing up for a much wider virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) in the corporate PC market. NVIDIA has made key partnership deals with hypervisor suppliers Citrix and VMware, OEM server hardware suppliers IBM, Dell, HP among others, and NVIDIA is now inviting the market to test drive NVIDIA GRID virtual GPUs with their favorite software free of charge. The company recently launched an online trial of GRID technology and Taiwan are the first markets outside of the U.S. to have access. Solving the Challenges of Virtualization There are currently more than 700 million PCs available in the commercial PC market but the penetration rate for virtualization has remained low at only 3.5%, even as more and more enterprises are realizing the benefits of leaving big data in a central datacenter, rendering it on a server, and shipping only encoded rendered pixels to the client. The main issue with virtualization is that computing is a visual experience and up to this point using a virtual desktop interface (or VDI) has delivered less than stellar results in terms of giving users a level of visual experience they have grown accustomed to on their PCs. To put it more precisely, every PC has a graphics processor of some kind, even tablets and smartphones have a graphics processor - customers wouldn't use them otherwise, but VDI continues to be driven by CPU-centric server designs. Under such a scenario, a hypervisor sits on the server and runs virtual machines whose graphics are rendered by the server CPU. This method is incredibly inefficient. Even running a Microsoft Windows 7 desktop requires DirectX 9 support, meaning it needs to be rendered on a GPU. To do that in a data center requires a large amount of server resources and this has not really been a financially attractive option for enterprises. So as a result, the VDI market has mostly targeted the 100 million or so PCs that focus on data input and simple office productivity applications - the realm of the task worker. The rest of the market - the more than 600 million knowledge workers, power users and even designers have been left mostly untapped. Kepler the key ingredient It is a bit misleading to say that GPUS have not been used in the datacenter for certain applications and that deployment in these areas can be effective; however they do have limitations. One solution being used is GPU sharing, where the hypervisor lets the client application behave as though it has its own dedicated GPU, while the server GPU responds to one master host. GPU sharing has been a reasonable solution for some companies, but it not ideal. Since a shim driver lives in the guest OS instead of a native graphics driver, not all applications are served well by that shim driver. And, when an enterprise has a long list of applications that need to be compatible with the virtualized environment, the GPU sharing method becomes difficult to manage. An alternative solution has been to provide dedicated physical GPUs in servers implementing GPU pass-through. Unlike the rest of the physical system components, which are represented as multiple virtual instances to multiple clients by the hypervisor, the pass-through GPU is not abstracted at all, but remains one physical device. Each hosted virtual machine gets its own dedicated GPU, eliminating the software abstraction and the performance penalty that goes with it. However, shortcomings in both models have prevented widespread deployment. For, example, the software overhead for GPU sharing constrains performance as the user count rises. And the physically dedicated GPU relationship of GPU pass-through misses out on the point of large-scale virtualization - the ability to supporting multiple clients with one shared computing resource. With GRID, however, NVIDIA has been able to deliver 2D/3D imaging and 100% API support, while being able to scale with the number of concurrent users (CCUs), thus giving GPU-accelerated rendering broader appeal. The key has been Kepler, which implements a Memory Management Unit (MMU) that maps and translates a host's virtual address to the system's physical address, with each process working in its own virtual address space. Kepler also has 256 independent input buffers, each dedicated to a different host, separating each VM's command stream into independent rendering contexts. This combination of an address-space unifying MMU and a VM-specific MMU provides for a true virtual GPU that can serve multiple CCUs without the performance and latency penalty of excessive software overhead. Expanding the market Under a VDI using GRID vGPUs, NVIDIA has made it possible for all graphics to be rendered in the cloud, freeing up the end point device from having to have specific requirements. What is displayed on the client is can be as simple as an h.264 stream, meaning anything that can play a YouTube video can view and modify the file. This could revolutionize some key industries such as 3D designing and video processing that are used to copying data to the client for processing. These industries are seeing dramatic growth in the volume of visual computing data that needs to be processed and the manipulation of files that measure in the hundreds of gigabytes if not terabytes. Copying the raw data from datacenter to datacenter can waste a lot of time. It makes much more sense to leave big data in a central datacenter, rendering it on a server, and then ship only the rendered pixels to the client. Moreover, peripheral business users, such as in marketing, sales engineering departments and in procurement departments, will be able to access the visual data remotely to tap into a single, up-to-date project database at any point in the workflow. These power users and knowledge workers may not be directly engaged in product creation, but their work still depends on being able to quickly, accurately view and mark up project material. In terms of market opportunities, it may seem easy to understand the opportunities for 3D engineering but what is much harder to understand and what the industry has been missing for quite a while is the benefits for average workers and their reliance on Microsoft Windows 7, which is the most pervasive graphics application in the world. The Windows 7 desktop requires DirectX 9, while office productivity applications also increasingly rely on multimedia and complex graphics. Even Internet usage without HTML 5.0 support is not visually compelling. So, while a single user may be able to get away with a CPU-based VDI or previous versions of shared GPU, such solutions cannot scale for larger enterprises, which was a previous sticking point for companies looking at virtualization. With GRID vGPUs, performance results will improve to the point where companies can make decisions on considerations other than "it just doesn't look good." This means the market is moving to a new opportunity whereby not only the 225 million designers and power users could benefit, but the 600 million knowledge workers could benefit from virtualization as well. Building an ecosystem No company had ever been able to virtualize a GPU before NVIDIA released its GRID vGPUs so there was no widespread ecosystem support. NVIDIA has been working closely with industry partners over the past year to transition the market and make GRID vGPU a viable solution for the enterprise. Hypervisor vendors need to build vGPU support into their technology, while server OEMs need to include GRID vGPUs in their servers. NVIDIA has also been working with customers to implement test trials. In terms of hypervisor support, Citrix was agile and quickly began supporting NVIDIA GRID vGPUs with its Citrix XenServer. Citrix's support helped NVIDIA grow its base of company trials by 10-fold in one year, from a handful of trials to to over 500 enterprises now. VMware announced it will begin supporting NVIDIA GRID vGPU later this year, and with the market share of its VMware ESX hypervisor approaching 80%, it should spur even more interest in NVIDIA GRID. Under NVIDIA'S relationship with VMware, In addition to providing virtualization of GPU under a private data center scenario, it will also support VMware's Horizon DaaS (Desktop as a Service) platform that can support public and hybrid clouds. Currently, VMware supports about 19 partners, with Navasite currently being first in the process of deploying NVIDIA GRID for enabling virtual desktops. This opens up the opportunity for deploying a hybrid cloud, which would consist of an onsite premise deployment and then additional capacity for customers would be deployed by using a cloud hosted environment. On the hardware side, NVIDIA has signed up all the major global hardware OEMs to deliver GRID vGPUs installed. Cisco, Dell, IBM, Fujitsu, HP, Asustek, TYAN, Supermicro and Quanta Cloud Technology(QCT) are all supporting GRID. These products are not just niche products. The HP ProLiant DL380 is the number one server in the world in terms of shipments and the Dell PowerEdge R720 is right behind. These are the models that are supporting NVIDIA GRID. Test drive NVIDIA GRID virtual GPUs Because the virtual GPU market is so new, NVIDIA realizes that customers are struggling with believing the benefits of VDI due to their previous disappointing results with virtualization. Therefore, NVIDIA is now offering customers the ability totest-drive its cloud-delivered graphics acceleration for enterprise applications. Customers no longer need to invest large amounts of time or money to build a proof-of-concept private cloud; they can simply test benefits of graphics acceleration for virtualized desktops. NVIDIA is confident that it can deliver a better experience for remote desktops and applications, can run graphics-rich applications in a virtualized environment, and can handles complex graphics files and images. Customers are invited to take the free GRID test drive at http://www.nvidia.com/trygrid. Will Wade, Director, GRID Product Line, NVIDIAPhoto: Company