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Trying to expand the market for personal computers to the developing world, NComputing Inc., a maker of hardware and software for virtual desktop computing, has raised $28 million in its Series B round.

Menlo Ventures led the round, which included participation from NComputing's existing backers - Scale Venture Partners and Daehong Technew Corp., a Korean-based supplier of semiconductor material. The round, which closed mid-December, gives the company a valuation that has "nine figures," or more than $100 million, said Stephen Dukker, the company's chairman and chief executive.

Although a number of start-ups and larger corporations are offering desktop virtualization products, most are focused on selling to the enterprise. NComputing sells its products to educational institutions in the U.S. and abroad, and in emerging markets, Dukker said.

NComputing makes hardware devices that allow up to 30 users to run operating systems and other applications from a single computer. The device costs between $70 and $200 per user, compared to anywhere from $300 to $1,000 per user for software and hardware from the competing vendors, Dukker said.

Over the last 18 months the company has deployed over 500,000 units, including a 180,000-unit deployment in schools throughout Macedonia. The product has also been deployed in schools in Bangladesh, Turkey, Lewisville, Texas, and 19 different school districts in North Carolina, Dukker said.

Although most of its success has been in schools, NComputing plans on devoting a portion of the new funds to continued development of new products that will allow it to penetrate further into the developing world and reach people that could not otherwise afford a personal computer. It plans on doing this by selling reference designs that will allow its hardware to be embedded into monitors, televisions and set-top boxes. It currently has some of these products in trials in India, China and Japan, Dukker said.

The remaining portion of the proceeds will be used to continue to grow the company's international sales and support presence, Dukker said.

NComputing focuses almost exclusively on the educational and developing markets because the costs of additional licenses for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows are significantly lower in these markets. Dukker said NComputing is hopeful that the cost will come down, allowing it to sell to U.S. consumers and small and medium-sized businesses sometime in 2009.

Based in Redwood City, Calif., the company has 50 employees in the U.S. and another 100 scattered in "13 or 14" offices around the globe, Dukker said. It last raised funding in October 2006 with an $8 million Series A round from Scale Venture Partners, then known as BA Venture Partners.

Dubose Montgomery, a managing director and a founder of Menlo Ventures, will take a seat on the company's board of directors.

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