StarNet Communications Corporation was founded in 1989 and incorporated in 1990 by engineers working part-time out of their home. Our corporate mission was to create and market powerful, yet affordable PC-X server products for corporate, education and government markets.
The first X Server product, MicroX, was launched in 1991. It enabled users of 286 and 386-based Intel systems to access the X Window System from their personal computers. Being self-financed, we lacked the resources for traditional sales and marketing operations. So the founders decided to utilize the internet for delivering the product and providing tech support for its customers.StarNet was quite possibly the first company to base its entire business model on the internet, because in 1991, the internet was mostly used by universities and government agencies. As a result, and aided by its low cost, simplicity and focus on the X server functionality, X-Win32 quickly became popular in these sectors.
In the late 1990s, we actively sought to broaden our share of the corporate sector, then dominated by half a dozen solutions costing two to four times as much. Our competitors typically offered a suite of solutions, mostly non-X server related (FTP, NFS, terminal emulation, etc.). As the enterprise market shifted towards more focused solutions, many firms found that X-Win32 nicely fit their needs and budget. Today, in the market for LAN-based legacy PC X servers, X-Win32 remains as one of three leading solutions along with OpenText's Exceed and Attachmate’s Reflection X. StarNet has also take a Top 3 position in the market for modern client-server solutions where it competes with OpenText's Exceed OnDemand and NX from NoMachine.
Aiding our continued success in expanding market share were four critical strategic advantages:
Despite bringing many powerful innovations to market, StarNet has kept the cost of its products low, offering further discounts depending on volume.
As competitors merged or otherwise couldn’t keep up with the changing market, StarNet has grown its market share by bringing a steady stream of innovations to the market, starting in 2000 with integrating SSH and most recently with FastX which allows users to access their remote Linux and Unix desktop through standard PC browsers. Recently, FastX became the first remote Linux display solution to offer the display of Linux desktops using a standard browser. Now users can Linux access their Linux environment from any device with a browser, including iPads and smart phones. FastX is also the first-enable solution that is optimized for use with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Despite its continuous evolution and addition of productivity-enhancing features, our products remain extremely simple to operate. Even the most Windows-centric user can easily bring up a remote Unix or Linux desktop and start working with applications on those hosts.
Our support services have always served as a great competitive advantage. All pre-sale support is free. Our Support & Maintenance Program includes all upgrades, phone, email, video conferencing and engineering support.