The serial port is handy for personal digital assistants. ClearCube has several patents in the area of data transfer over copper wire, and its technologies allow all the needed signals, including video and USB, to be extended as far as 200 meters from the Blade. Each user still has a dedicated CPU, RAM, network interface card, hard drive or drives, and graphics board on his Blade. One of the interesting consequences of ClearCube's architecture is that it really does turn your network inside out. A typical corporate LAN has a bunch of servers in a controlled environment that connect to the outside world on one side and to all the corporate users on the other side.
Long cables carry network traffic to and from the servers.
ClearCube's design, however, puts the PCs in the same room as the servers. Although it seems strange at first, this arrangement has several advantages. It keeps PCs physically accessible to IT staffers at all times and gives IT the ability to back up user PCs. The Blades have jumpers on them that allow IT staff to disable some components or capabilities, such as the use of removable storage devices at a user's location, to prevent him from installing unauthorized software or removing proprietary data, for example. When the user doesn't need a computer tower nearby, he may be able to get by with a smaller workspace.