The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a non-profit international organization responsible for the global rules of trade between nations. Its 149 member countries account for 97% of global trade. The WTO’s mission is to ensure that international trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible throughout the world. As part of this mission, the WTO hosts an annual conference with 11,000 delegates. The conference has global economic and political implications and impacts the lives of nearly every person in the world.

Demanding delegates

The Sixth Annual Ministerial Conference was to be held at the massive Hong Kong Convention Centre—one of the largest conference facilities in the world. The delegates and organizers needed easy access to computing resources to make presentations, access the Internet, interact with fellow delegates, and communicate with their home countries. Since the delegates were constantly on the move, computer access points were required throughout the convention centre, including conference rooms, hallways, cyber cafes, and meeting rooms. To meet these requirements, the computing solution needed to be cost-effective, highly reliable and secure, easy to set up and dismantle, environmentally friendly, and compatible with PC software and the Internet.

Notebooks and desktop PCs were considered, but were found to be too expensive and space-inefficient while requiring too much time to set up and dismantle.

A workable solution

The WTO deployed NComputing technology to meet the challenge. NComputing is the world leader in efficiently harnessing the power of a desktop PC so that up to 30 people can use a single PC at the same time. Normally, with only one user on a PC, the processor’s average utilization is about 5%. In public access applications, many PCs sit idle much of the time. NComputing harnesses the unused power of a PC to share it among multiple users and it does so at a fraction of the cost of individual PCs. In addition, this highly efficient system requires less electricity, less space, and less time to set up and manage, making it ideal for the WTO’s conference needs. The WTO retained NComputing reseller partner Targa Hong Kong, Ltd. to deploy over 500 NComputing L-series throughout the convention centre, including the press centre, delegate centre, cyber café, NGO centre, and lounges.

It looked easy

The NComputing solution was a perfect fit for the demanding needs of the conference. Over 500 seats were installed in a fraction of the time that it would have taken to install 500 desktop PCs. The solution worked flawlessly throughout the conference. The delegates, the conference centre, and the support team were pleased with the simplicity and effectiveness of the solution.

The delegates appreciated the simplicity and performance of the solution. “The computing platform is efficient and user-friendly. The performance is excellent and there is no difference compared to a PC,” said a delegate from Uganda. Other delegates appreciated that the small size of the device meant there was more work space for their documents and belongings.

The conference centre benefited from the access device’s electrical efficiency. Each terminal used 5 watts of electricity, compared to over 110 watts for a typical PC. This meant a 90% reduction in electrical usage at over 500 access points in the conference.

The Targa team appreciated the ease of deployment and overall project efficiency enabled by the solution. “The NComputing solution performed brilliantly,” said Mr. Charles Kwan, General Manager of Targa and team leader of the project, “By using NComputing, we lowered the computer costs for the WTO by 80%, while providing the delegates with full computing access. The efficiency of the solution made the delivery of exceptional services look easy.”