Frequently Asked Questions

Based on its components, Intel Core Ultra CPU with an integrated NPU and optional NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada GPU, the HX2000 is optimized for:

• AI-Enhanced Applications: Users leveraging new AI-powered software features, where the NPU can efficiently handle inference tasks without bogging down the CPU.
• Mainstream CAD & Design: Professionals using applications like AutoCAD, SolidWorks, or Adobe Creative Suite who need responsive graphics and strong single-threaded CPU performance.
• Financial Services: Traders and analysts running complex desktop applications that demand ultra-low latency and dedicated processing power.
• Software Development: Developers who require a powerful, dedicated, and isolated environment for compiling and testing code.

CoreStation HX delivers simple, manageable architecture. Key features include:

• Dedicated Management Processor: The CoreStation Management Console is critical. It enables 24/7 monitoring, alerting, and event logging, plus remote configuration and firmware updates, all managed out-of-band.
• Hot-Swappable Components: The CoreStation HX5 enclosure is a data center-class design with redundant power supplies and hot-swappable components, ensuring high availability and simplifying maintenance.
• Reduced Licensing Overheads: The simple bare-metal architecture can reduce the complex licensing and management overheads often associated with large-scale hypervisor deployments.

It differs fundamentally in architecture and intent. Traditional VDI aims to maximize user density by sharing resources on a server. The CoreStation HX2000 platform is designed to optimize performance for the power user by providing them with access to their own dedicated compute resource.

The level of security reached by CoreStation HX2000 is achieved through several key features:

• Resource Isolation: The bare-metal, one-user-per-node approach is the ultimate form of isolation. Critical resources are never shared. The workstation OS and data are fully contained within their dedicated hardware node.
• Centralised Data: All data and processing remain within the physically secure CoreStation HX5 enclosure in your data center. And when connected to one of our secure thin clients, no data resides on a vulnerable desk-side device.
• Out-of-Band Management: Each HX2000 node contains a dedicated management processor, the CoreStation Management Console. This allows for complete, secure, out-of-band control, including direct KVM access from power-on and at the BIOS level, completely separate from the production network.

Local performance is engineered through a combination of dedicated hardware and optimised protocols:

• Bare-Metal Performance: Direct hardware access eliminates any hypervisor or software overhead. A user is assigned a dedicated HX2000 node, guaranteeing consistent performance and the lowest possible latency without contention from “noisy neighbours.”
• AI-Optimised Compute: The Intel Core Ultra CPU provides both fast cores for traditional applications and an integrated NPU for offloading sustained AI tasks, keeping the primary cores free. This is complemented by integrated Intel Arc Graphics and options for discrete NVIDIA RTX A1000 or RTX 2000 Ada GPUs for professional graphics workloads.
• Protocol Agnostic: When combined with secure thin clients, such as Amulet Hotkeys 5^th Generation DX client, and a remote display protocol such as HP Anyware, the platform delivers a fluid and responsive multi-monitor desktop experience to any location.

The architecture is based on the CoreStation HX5, a 5U enclosure that houses up to 12 independent HX2000 workstation nodes. Each node is high powered workstation in a form factor that is designed for the data center. Each node an Intel® Core™ Ultra processor. This CPU provides high clock speeds for responsive applications and includes a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for emerging AI workloads. Each node has its own dedicated memory (up to 96GB DDR5) and local NVMe storage, ensuring there is zero resource sharing between users.