MiniFrame touts energy benefits of virtual PCs

Israeli technology startup MiniFrame has revealed plans to develop a consumer version of its energy-saving software package, designed to allow eight users to work off one PC.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, MiniFrame chief executive Eli Segal said the company was aiming to launch a household version of its SoftXpand solution before the end of the year, capable of seamlessly enabling two users to simultaneously operate the same PC for different tasks.

The company's software applies similar virtualisation techniques to those now widely used in companies' datacentres to their PC environments, effectively splitting one PC into up to eight separate machines.

"It is not a new idea, but the problem in the past has been maintaining the user experience for each virtual machine," explained Segal. "What we've done is introduce load balancing algorithms to dynamically allocate the spare computing resource on the PC to different users as they require it. The result is that there is no drop-off in performance – they cannot tell that it is not their own PC."

The company is now seeking to expand the number of resell partners it works with in response to rising demand from corporate customers keen to reduce the energy and carbon footprint of their IT equipment.

"We initially saw it as a product for small and medium sized businesses, educational establishments and call centres, but we've seen strong demand for large corporate environments such as banks as well," he said. "It is primarily concerns over rising energy bills that are driving the interest – it costs €73 (£58) a year to power a PC so if you can cut the number running to an eighth you can deliver significant savings."

He added that firms deploying the software also realise additional energy savings through reduced office air conditioning requirements and further cost savings as a result of lower maintenance overheads.