Hello Folks,
at the CeBit 2012 in Hannover IGEL demonstrates there distributed Display solution to provide up to 8 screens to a workplace. Iam happy to got also a prerelease Version to get a first look on the solution and iam happy to share some information’s with you.
What is the “distributed” Display solution:
1) The solution provides up to 8 Screens for IGEL Universal Desktop LX based devices (only!)
2) You have a master and slaves, all IGEL Thin Clients come with two display ports and this means: 1x UD5 Master provide two screens (1¦2) and a second UD3 Slave provide also two additional screens (3¦4), to get screen (5¦6) and (7¦8) you need to add one or two additional thin clients. The clients will be connected thru a seperate network and there is no need to have keyboard/mice for all devices (of course the Master needs a mouse and a keyboard…)
3) The UD5 Master device needs an additional network card (currently INTEL 82574L) and you need to configure only the master, all administrative task (Firmware Update, Slave switch on, Slave configuration) will be done thru the Master!
4) The device’s require a additional licenses from IGEL for the Master and also the Satellite’s, this solution can not be used with the regular licenses (entry, standard and advanced) out of the box!
Benefits
– The solution is flexible and a simple way to provide a couple of screen to a workplace
– Regarding that this solutions works thru the network you can seperate displays via long distances (seperate network!! do not mix this with your production network!), for example in showrooms.
– Compared to the price for a 4 port Display Card (~1000 US$ without PC) it looks like a better pricing for a more flexible solution.
– All satellites will be configured thru the master.
– Displays can be arranged in the way you want it, all in one row, like a cross, a square or whatever in a very simple way thru the IGEL Setup.
– Not tested but it should be possible to upgrade existing devices to the distributed display solution via an upgrade license from IGEL (of course you need to add the second network card to the master), this is only a impression from my side and i can’t say if this will be a final product feature!
Disadvantage
– additional network cables, for a workplace with 8 screens you need to hide a lot of network cables and power supply’s
– slow boot time (the master will switch on the slave and you have to wait two more time compared to the regular boot time), i recommend to bypass this to a management task to wake up the master client early in the morning.
– Performance can be very different, IGEL provides this solution for a UD5 as Master and for UD2, UD3 or UD5 as slave. Of course the UD2 is a very price aggressive device but from the performance point of view i would not recommend this device; here a UD3 or UD5 is the better way to go and during a PoC you should get two devices as satellite’s for your test. This is also not an HD Multimedia solution.
– Higher requirements to setup the devices, this task can not be done thru a normal office user
The solution looks quite cool but it’s still some development to do and the firmware is still not public available, if you’re intrested to test this solution contact you sales contact.
Cheers
Michael
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