LaserBlade LaserCube FAQs

Cubix LaserBlades are quite straightforward. They are highly serviceable, front accessible, front removable blade PCs that feature the latest fastest Intel processors and SATA drives (up to two per blade with hot plug as an option).

At the heart of each LaserBlade is a standard motherboard, packaged in blade format for optimal space, power and cooling efficiencies. Unlike other blade vendor products, there is nothing proprietary about the electronics design. By utilizing Intel chipsets, LaserBlades are as industry standard as is possible, with support for all OS, utilities suites and interfaces that Intel supports.

As a blade PC, the Cubix LaserBlade is configured with a Cubix manufactured adapter that resides in the blade that extends the blade’s PCIe bus signals over distance to a LaserCube desktop device.

The LaserCube contains a Cubix manufactured adapter that takes the PCIe bus signal and converts it to support a variety of interfaces: graphics adapters, USB 2.0 devices, PCI adapter devices, PS2 keyboard and mice, etc. The combination of the LaserBlade and LaserCube allows users to run standard thick client applications (running on Vista, Windows XP, Linux) with no compatibility issues.

LaserBlades’ processing elements are packaged in high-density rackmount form factors. This methodology allows the LaserBlade’s security sensitive modules (i.e. data and network connections) to be back racked in the data center completely removed from the office work environment.

LaserBlades permit extremely long distance separation (hundreds of meters with multimode and thousands of meters with single mode fiber) between the processing/storage/networked elements and the user-oriented display elements. Therefore, all the heat / noise producing and power consumptive parts of the computer can be placed in the data center in high density rackmount form factors, and all the user interaction parts like the monitor/keyboard/mouse can be placed on the desktops up to hundreds of meters away.

What remain on the desktops are the quiet, worker-friendly, extremely space-efficient monitor, keyboard and mouse. Optionally, users can also connect USB devices such as CDs, printers, etc. and PCI adapters for serial connections and remote IP connections.

The end result is a desktop PC architecture that is better managed, aesthetically improved, quieter, more energy efficient, and completely secure.

LaserBlades PCs correct the limitations of ordinary networked PC. The obvious limitations include the facts that ordinary PCs produce high noise levels, generate a lot of heat, and force administrators to place sensitive data on the PCs‘ hard drives in exposed areas.

In contrast, LaserBlades PCs offer all the functions of ordinary networked PCs without their limitations. Behind the locked doors and HVAC controlled environment of the data center reside LaserBlade processors, memory, hard drives and network connections – essentially all the elements that produce heat and noise.

Data on a LaserBlade PC is secure. Users are not in the same room as their hard drives. They have no physical access to their machines. The person who does have physical access is the network administrator, who can do maintenance, upgrades and replacements in the data center without ever having to visit the users’ work areas. Desktop to blade PC connections can be easily rerouted with the changing of a cable connection so moves/adds/changes are almost instantaneous.

To summarize, LaserBlade technology eliminates many of the common hidden-cost problems found in ordinary PCs that all network administrators complain about.

Buyers save money on better management, quicker uptime, more efficient power and air conditioning configurations, office space savings, and reduced employee disruption related to service. Most importantly, all of the blades’ primary assets are under the direct control and supervision of the network managers, so the possibility of data theft and asset theft is greatly reduced.

Although the devices at the desktop appear similar to thin-client computing devices because of their small footprints, LaserBlade is not a shared device. There is a one-to-one relationship between the user and the computer he is connected to, which preserves the traditional PC experience. Users can run multiple headed monitors, run video conferencing programs and other high end graphics applications, and have the assurance of complete PC compatibility for all applications, including legacy applications.

There are multiple LaserCube desktop devices. The most basic has a graphics controller with dual DVI monitor support and PS/2 connections or USB 2.0 ports to support a keyboard and mouse and additional USB 2.0 peripherals such as CDs, DVDs, floppies, cameras and printers. Other versions support from four to eight monitors.

The smallest is 9.0”W x 5.75”D x 2.25”H.

There are two aspects to this question. The first is that the LaserCube is “disk-less, processor-less, and NIC-less” at the desktop so users cannot tamper with the PC portion of the units. The media have reported numerous instances where ordinary PCs containing sensitive customer financial data, mailing lists, etc., have been stolen from offices, thus compounding the financial losses for the company or government entity. In one California location, the loss of data in the theft of a dozen PCs from a financial institution was valued in the tens of millions of dollars. Currently there is a $26 billion class action suit against the Veterans Administration for loss of member identification information that was stored on a laptop’s hard drive and was subsequently stolen. In contrast, LaserBlades residing in locked datacenters are not publicly available.

The second is that the conduit between the back racked LaserBlades and the desktop LaserCubes is fiber. Fiber is used in highly secure environments such as in the military and financial applications because fiber cannot be tapped or snooped by unsavory individuals. Fiber is not adversely affected by EMI signals so it is great for places such as air traffic controller stations, medical diagnostic stations, high-rise buildings, etc. Fiber is the transport medium defined for classified transmissions by the US government. The recent cost drop in fiber cabling has greatly increased the adoption of fiber, making it more and more commonplace in ordinary office settings.

Yes. Both copper and fiber NICs are supported. Copper NICs are on-board the LaserBlades for connection to a copper-based Ethernet switch; however, fiber NICs can be added in the LaserBlades’ PCI slots if fiber connections are required between the computers and the server through a fiber Ethernet switch. High security civilian and military intelligence communities often mandate end-to-end fiber configurations. Cubix LaserBlade is unique in being able to support native end-to-end fiber connections without any media conversion – from the fiber Ethernet switch to the servers to the computers to the desktop devices!

In a nutshell: long distance, signal immunity, high bandwidth, and cost-savings (surprisingly) are the answers. Because the fiber optic signal is light, very little signal loss occurs during transmission so greater distances can be achieved than using copper. Multimode fiber runs can span 400 meters and single mode can span multiple miles. With fiber optic to the desktop, you can centralize all networking equipment and computers in one location, instead of placing them in wiring closets and buying/placing repeaters throughout the building to cater to copper’s distance limitations.

Fiber optic cable is immune to interference and is extremely difficult to tap. The fiber is made of glass, which is an insulator, so no electric current flows through. It is immune to electromagnetic interference and radio-frequency interference (EMI/RFI), cross talk, and impedance problems. It can be placed in dropped ceilings, tie-wrapped along the outside of existing power lines, placed inside conduits with existing power lines, run in air conditioning ducts and even stapled to baseboards. Fiber is smaller in diameter, lighter in weight, and considerably easier to test.

Fiber is being placed in the infrastructure to support requirements for multimedia, voice, and other data-intensive network traffic. In the Cubix implementation, data traffic is not the issue because data stays in the data center. Fiber is used, however, to support the high-speed serial data traffic between the LaserCube and the LaserBlade. Fiber costs less to maintain, has much less downtime, and requires less hardware from end to end. Most importantly, fiber has unlimited life span which “future proofs” the infrastructure, while copper has reached its peak as far as its performance capabilities.

Digital. The signal does not require any adjustment as it would if it were analog. The user's graphics adapter is located at the desktop in the LaserCube, not in the blade computer. Unlike analog, with digital transmission there is no sacrifice in resolution or color palette support.

50 or 62.5 Micron Multimode Fiber (50 Micron recommended for maximum distance). 8.5 Micron Singlemode Fiber. Connection is crossover.

• LaserBlades use fiber optics from end to end.  This eliminates the need for copper to fiber media converters at one end and fiber to copper media converters at the other end.  Media converters have very significant downsides:
• Conversion to copper emits RFI, so it is not secure. Fiber emits no radio frequency interference (RFI); therefore, it is secure.
• Conversion to copper loses signal strength and so provides less transmission distance. End-to-end fiber provides minimal signal strength loss and therefore the maximum possible transmission distance.
• Media converters are expensive.
• They take up space.
• They require transformer power connections at either end LaserBlades use pure fiber from end to end, which reduces TEMPEST proximity issues; therefore LaserBlades are more secure, more distance efficient, cheaper to deploy and more space-efficient.

Yes. LaserBlades can use an external physical layer fiber switch to act as an intelligent patch panel. The external switch cross-connects the LaserBlades to the various remote LaserCube desktop devices. This allows you to map any port to any port and dynamically allocate resources. This feature comes in handy for Moves/Adds/Changes and for immediately connecting in a spare computer in the event of a failure. Failover happens through an event horizon management program that is set up to connect the desktop device to a spare computer if a primary computer fails.

The cross connect switch has 32 ports (i.e. 16 to the computers, 16 to the desktops) or 72 ports. Because the switches are not tightly coupled to the LaserBlades, multiple switches can be linked together to form a very large matrix that scales to hundreds of connections, allowing any to any port routing. For failover, a spare blade or two are each placed on a port so that they are accessible through the cross connect switch to any of the desktop devices. As an external device, the cross connect switch can be purchased at any time the need arises to add the functionality, is easy to service, and can be placed near or away from the LaserBlade computers, adding integration flexibility.