Neverware: putting life back into old PCs
Channel: Robert Scoble's Building 43
Date: 01/11/2011

If you've been inside of a school recently, you may have noticed a mixed bag of computing resources—some new systems, some very old systems and everything in between. Managing such a wide variety of devices running a hodgepodge of old and new operating systems can be challenging even for the most experienced IT professional, much less someone who's day job is something other than IT as is often the case in schools. Neverware has developed a solution to this problem in the form of a hardware box that allows yesterday's computers to run today's software.

"Technology for me is simply a means to an end," explains Jonathan Hefter, CEO of Neverware, "and the end needs to be a clear value proposition...Using technology, we're often able to identify these great inefficiencies, so in the case of what I'm doing right now, I realized, 'Hey, we're replacing hundreds of computers in schools a year when each computer is only using a fraction of its computing power. Why not put one powerful computer in the middle of that and have all the old computers just use that power?' Now, nobody ever told me that I was just re-inventing mainframe computing for the modern day, but I guess it was just before my time."

Incorporating Neverware is a fairly straightforward process. Users signup for the service and receive a juicebox, which they put on their network. They instruct all the old computers to boot from the juicebox instead of the hard drive, and the box takes over from there. It provides all the computing power and allows the old machine to run the latest software in a virtual environment. The goal is for installation to be as quick and easy as possible so that any school can use Neverware, regardless of the technological expertise on hand.

"Simplicity is key," says Hefter, "because I don't know if it's going to be a Citibank veteran or the extra science teacher who's going to be managing the network. That being said, a great part of what the IT person does in the school is just run around putting out fires. So if I can remove the need for the kind of constant, non-stop maintenance, it frees them up to do what IT people want to do, which is continue to build and improve the information experience in the school."

More info:

Neverware web site: http://neverware.com/
Neverware profile on CrunchBase: http://www.crunchbase.com/company/neverware
Neverware profile on Twitter: http://twitter.com/neverware