Start-up thinks 'thin client' can span digital divide

Stephen Dukker, chairman and chief executive of NComputing, is pursuing a computer revolution with a small box that turns low-cost desktop computers into servers that feed dozens of work stations. In tech parlance, it's called "thin client" technology - devices that have no processing power and store information on servers. NComputing's "virtualization" software taps into unused capacity in high-performance PCs and disperses that power to up to 30 other terminals. NComputing expects to sell 1 million "seats" - the thin box that connects a monitor, keyboard and mouse to a nearby PC - this year at a cost of just $70 each. Dukker and others in the developmental aid field see NComputing as a relatively inexpensive way to connect the poorest pockets of the world to the Internet. The start-up has 14 offices around the globe that provide tech help to create an ecosystem to support the devices - a critical component in narrowing the global digital divide.