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SA group supports open source software

Martin Czernowalow
By Martin Czernowalow, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 15 Jun 2005

A South African network services and computing solutions developer has been appointed support and distribution partner for NoMachine`s NX server and business software solutions.

QV Technologies, based in KwaZulu-Natal, will sell and support the Linux-based products, both nationally and in the rest of the African continent, says QV director Per Qvindeslad.

He explains that the NX server solution allows users to avoid expensive licences, as it is only necessary to backup, upgrade and maintain one machine instead of several that have the same software packages installed.

This is because NoMachine`s licensing is based on the number of CPUs and not the number of users, as well as being able to use other open source software that is less prone to viral infections than other operating systems, Qvindeslad claims.

"The benefits for private and corporate users are cheaper software and hardware solutions. For home users this means a more secure environment during Web-browsing and e-mail reading, since they download e-mails on a Linux platform that is less susceptible to viruses then IE Microsoft solutions. There is also an opportunity to control each user`s Web-browsing with other open source software," he says.

NoMachine`s products are open source-based, and the company has developed a product line for a terminal server system that has proven to be fast even on small lines such as a 56K modem, Qvindeslad says.

The NX server has been developed for the majority of Linux systems, with pre-developed versions for systems like Fedora, Novell SUSE and Mandrake. There are also versions developed for Solaris, he adds.

Qvindeslad notes that the company`s strategy for the South African market is based on a five-year plan.

"We realise Linux is still in the process of convincing both private and business users, but, with such heavy marketing from companies like Novell and HP, we expect that in the first two years we should have a 10% market share and, after five years, we should be at 40% market share," he claims.

He says NX software is a solution for those seeking an alternative to remote access and application deployment.

"Behind NoMachine software is the NX Distributed Computing Architecture, a suite of open source technologies and commercial tools, designed by NoMachine, to make network computing as easy and widespread as Web-browsing."

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