Neverware is an American technology company that builds an operating system, called CloudReady, intended to make computers faster, more secure, and more manageable. The company launched CloudReady in February 2015. CloudReady is built on Google's open-source operating system Chromium. Neverware customizes CloudReady so it can be installed and used on PC and Macintosh hardware up to 13 years old, making them behave more like a Chromebook. Although the company began with an exclusive focus on the US K-12 education sector, it announced in October 2017 its intention to use its Series B funding from Google to further expand into the enterprise market.
History
Jonathan Hefter began developing Neverware’s core technology in 2009 after graduating from Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. In May 2010, Dogpatch Labs invited Hefter to work out of their Manhattan incubator, and in early 2011 Neverware officially formed, moved to General Assembly’s Manhattan location, and began operations. Hefter remains at Neverware as Chairman. After a successful pilot program, Neverware launched in January 2013, rolling out its first service, called PCReady, around New York City. Its second product, CloudReady, was released at the 2015 TCEA conference in Texas, indicating a broader national reach on the part of the company. In October of 2017, Neverware announced that Google would lead its Series B round of investment as a strategic partner and investor. In March of 2018, Neverware announced it would acquire Flint Innovations, the UK-based company behind Flint OS, another offshoot of Chromium OS.
Technology
Neverware’s first product, branded PCReady, used their proprietary server computer, called a Juicebox, which generated thin clients – a special kind of virtual machine. The Juicebox, which was installed locally, handled all processing and computing tasks and relegated only simple display and input tasks to the user’s machine. Neverware's second product, CloudReady, is built on Google's open-source Chromium and allows schools, businesses, and consumers to convert their existing hardware to the Google Chrome ecosystem. CloudReady is packaged in three ‘editions’: Enterprise, Education, and Home. The Home Edition of CloudReady is free. CloudReady attempts to differentiate itself by enabling machines running the OS to be managed alongside Chromebooks in the Google Admin console, support being provided for more than 350 certified computer models for up to 13 years, and mass deployment to many devices being possible through a variety of tools. This aims to allow school districts and enterprise IT administrators control and security features in addition to providing an alternative to surplussing existing machines.
