ASTER in Nepal

In Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, at Pragya Higher Secondary School, a computer lab has been outfitted with multi-seat computers powered by ASTER 4 computers in 1 solution. The school has 4 systems supporting 16 users at the same time. The school previously had 10 Pentium class computers which as of now is replaced by the multi-seat solution using the ASTER program from IBIK.RU.

With this solution, the school has saved two-third of the money on hardware costs as well as will be saving plenty more on electricity bills. With this solution, any institution that is looking to deploy computers in the various field will be able to deploy two to four times as many computers for the same cost.

ASTER creates multiple windows desktop environments and allocates the connected peripherals to each monitor, to allow multiple users to log on to independent workspaces using their regular windows/domain user names and passwords. The four systems deployed using the ASTER program are powered by an AMD processor on MSI motherboard with one AMD 5450 Graphics Card each. Windows 10 Operating System coupled with ASTER 4 computers in 1 solution has setup 16 workplaces total.

While the power consumption has been reduced from the previous 1200 watts for 10 standalone PCs to a little over 500 watts, performance is better than previous standalone systems. The ASTER program works with ANY HARDWARE. Multiple workstations, each consisting of a monitor, keyboard, and mouse are connected to a standard PC can create multiple independent workplaces quickly.

ASTER supports many ways to create additional workplaces. Firstly, the monitors are connected via video cards, while keyboards and mice are connected through USB hubs. Secondly, Workplaces can be created using Wireless Monitors (Intel WiDi), USB monitor, and USB docking station (like Plugable docking stations) instead of standard video cards. ASTER makes full use of each device connected to the system, enabling the workstation to support features, e.g. – A supported video card installed on an ASTER host PC will enable the workplaces to utilize all supported features of that card (DirectX, Open GL) providing the best possible graphic performance.

Message from the principal, Satya Narayan Manandhar, “We are glad to have received the licenses to power our four systems to make 16 workplaces. Our students are excited to use new systems and will be more productive. We hope to deploy more of such systems in the coming months. Thank you, IBIK”