Buying and supporting Windows-powered desktop and laptop computers is an expensive headache for many companies. Pano Logic offers a solution: Its Pano Device is meant to replace the PC or laptop on everyone's desk in a corporate office, but still let users run Windows.
Here's how it works: Instead of booting Windows directly, the Pano Device connects to a server parked in the company's IT racks. It runs a virtual Windows session from there. By optimizing what runs where, Pano Logic claims its system is cheaper than giving everyone their own Windows computer.
The concept is a lot like Larry Ellison's failed Network Computer from the late 1990s. But it's ten years more powerful, and ten years wiser. Also, unlike NC, Pano isn't trying to destroy Microsoft. The company calls its technology zero-client computing, to differentiate it from NC's thin client systems of ten years ago.
Since then, remote Windows sessions have become an everyday reality. Using VMware to conduct multiple login sessions from one PC is something office workers no longer think twice about. Pano's products take the virtual-Windows approach to its logical conclusion: What if you only ran virtual sessions? You could do away with the copy of Windows running on every desk at the company.
There are at least three ways to save money with a Pano Logic setup: First, the Pano Device costs less than a PC because it's not as powerful. Second, connecting to virtual Windows sessions is usually cheaper than buying a separate Windows license for each employee. And at least theoretically, IT workers don't need to spend as much time supporting a Pano network as they would taking care of an equally large number of Windows-powered machines prone to viruses and incorrect configurations.
But how much cheaper is Pano Logic, really? I asked them to quantify the potential savings in total cost of ownership per employee, especially for small companies. The company responded with a sliding scale: For a 1,000-employee workplace with typical IT infrastructure, Pano estimates $550 per employee per year in savings. But for a small company -- fewer than 50 employees -- the savings are actually higher: $750 per employee per year. That's enough to buy everyone a netbook to take home.
The Menlo Park, California-based company was founded in 2006, and has raised $24 million in funding, most recently in a round closed in February of 2009. Participants in that round included Foundation Capital, Goldman Sachs and Velocity Interactive Group