News
Ex-Microsoft Exec Poole Joins NComputing
- By Herb Torrens
- September 11, 2008
In an effort to reshape the computing landscape for developing countries, former Microsoft veteran Will Poole will join Redwood City, Calif.-based
NComputing as cochairman and board member, the company announced this week.
Poole will oversee strategic direction at the company. NComputing provides an access device that allows up to seven users to tap into a single PC. It features a virtualization solution built on Microsoft Windows. More than a million "seats" of the device are shipped each year, according to a company statement in July.
NComputing has supported more than 20,000 organizations in 90-plus countries around the world.
A 25-year industry veteran, Poole most recently served as corporate vice president of Microsoft's Unlimited Potential Group, which focuses on IT technology needs in underserved countries. He was also active in the company's involvement with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization and helped bring Windows to OLPC machines.
Poole joined Microsoft in 1996 after the company acquired eShop Inc., where he served as president and chief operating officer. He cofounded eShop in 1991 following a five-year run with Sun Microsystems.
At Microsoft, Poole headed the Windows Digital Media Division and Windows Client Business. In his post with the Unlimited Potential Group, he headed the company-wide effort to "create social and economic opportunity for…those in the middle and bottom of the world's economic pyramid," according to a company statement.
Poole explained in an NComputing prepared statement that the NComputing model brings much needed affordability to schools, businesses and governments in developing nations. He noted that his new position will allow him to pursue his passion for addressing important global development issues with a sustainable and eco-friendly computing solution.
Earlier this year, NComputing made Gartner's list as one of the "Cool Vendors in Client Computing." The company also won the Technology Innovation Award from the Wall Street Journal in 2007.
About the Author
Herb Torrens is an award-winning freelance writer based in Southern California. He managed the MCSP program for a leading computer telephony integrator for more than five years and has worked with numerous solution providers including HP/Compaq, Nortel, and Microsoft in all forms of media.