When we speak of computers today, you picture a massive box, with 3 to many optical drive spaces and enough intakes to cool a hall. Well that was not what the people from Xi3 pictured, because they have produced something that it totally opposite. The Z3RO, pronounced ‘zero’, is a low-profile, low-cost modular device that allows those of us who aren’t power users to dramatically reduce the energy consumption by allowing up to four people to connect to the Xi3 Modular Computer at once.
The Z3RO 5 Series uses an average 20 Watts which is pretty surprising considering that it runs a 64-bit x86 dual core processors running at 2.0 Ghz and will boot into Windows 7 Ultimate within 30 seconds.
“Simply put, the Xi3 Z3RO is a way of extending, expanding and sharing the power of an Xi3 Modular Computer with multiple users, all at the same time,” said Jason A. Sullivan, President and CEO of Xi3 Corporation. “Today’s processors are so powerful that most of the time they’re idling along, barely being used. We take advantage of that fact and allow up to four people to simultaneously work off of the same Xi3 Modular Computer. This makes it possible to simply plug a keyboard, mouse and monitor into an Xi3 Z3RO, connect it to an Xi3 Modular Computer and be up and running in a matter of minutes.
The Z3RO connects to the Xi3 Modular Computer via a USB cable that can be up to just under 5 meters long. The Z3RO also features SLID3™ Interlocking Technology™ to allow users to interlock the unit to the Xi3 Modular Computer, table, desk, screen or just about anything that will accept mounting screws. This is a very interesting concept and look promising for the future of workstations.