Calgary, AB (CA), January 2011 - Userful Corporation has released Userful MultiSeat Linux 2011. The software turns one PC into eleven, enabling up to eleven students to use different applications at the same time from one host computer. All students are equipped with their own monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
Userful MultiSeat enables schools to quickly deploy large numbers of computer stations for a very low cost, whether in the classroom, computer lab, or school library. With Userful MultiSeat, ministries of education, governments, and NGOs can deploy twice as many computers for the same budget dollars using familiar and flexible, standard PC hardware accompanied by a simple low-cost USB device.
More than 50,000 schools worldwide are already using Userful to provide millions of students with computer access. Userful has proven to be the computer solution of choice for governments with digital-inclusion mandates to provide school age children with computer access on limited budgets. The Brazilian ministry of education has reported saving sixty percent in up-front costs, and eighty percent in annual power savings as compared to their previous PC-per-station solutions.
Userful is easy to set up, use, and maintain. Unlike traditional approaches to desktop virtualization, it requires no servers, no server rooms, and minimal demands on IT. If you can unbox a computer, you can deploy a computer lab of virtual desktops with Userful.
Userful MultiSeat reduces hardware costs by up to eighty percent, and reduces required infrastructure (power plugs, cabling, etc.) by a factor of ten as compared to a traditional PC-per-seat solution. It also reduces energy costs by up to ninety percent, enabling schools to recover the cost of their computers through electricity cost savings over a few years. The low cost and robustness of Userful MultiSeat makes it an ideal solution for schools in rural and developing regions where infrastructure is minimal, electricity is unreliable, and there is little physical space.
Userful MultiSeat is Linux based and is available as an all-in-one install DVD, or as a stand-alone package to use on your own Linux installation. The install DVD includes a wide variety of no-cost applications such as the Edubuntu operating system, iTALC classroom computer-management tool, OpenOffice.org office suite, Firefox web browser, and subject-based applications for astronomy, chemistry, languages, mathematics, planning, and more.
Hundreds more applications can be installed at no charge with a single click through the Software Center -- a centralized repository of free Linux-based applications. Teachers can use additional free open-source software to further lower costs, easily tailor curricula to individual students, and monitor and control the classroom computers. Students can develop digital skills that will help them with their school work and prepare them for jobs in the future.
Userful offers any ministry of education worldwide a ninety-day licensing pilot to test-drive our solution on one system - up to eleven stations.
