Virtualization in Higher Education
Colleges and universities are adopting virtualization to improve data center efficiency, consolidate servers, save money, and reduce energy consumption. Here you'll find articles showcasing institutions that are moving to virtualized computing environments, along with news stories covering the latest technology developments.
Leostream, a developer of virtual hosted desktop software, has launched its Leostream Mobile Desktops service, which provides subscription-based, cloud-hosted desktop services built on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Ericom has released a new addition to its AccessNow product family, Ericom AccessNow for Enterprise Portals, which provides secure, cross-platform Web access to Windows applications and desktops.
Microsoft has opened its Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 Beta review program.
AppSense, which develops products to help organizations virtualize user settings, is creating a set of programs to let users install applications without administrative rights even in lockdown situations.
Cisco and Citrix have formed a strategic alliance for large-scale desktop virtualization deployments. The first deliverable of this collaboration will be the optimization of Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) for Citrix XenDesktop.
Cisco has debuted two new Cisco Virtualization Experience Client (VXC) endpoints that enable high-quality voice and video in virtual desktop environments.
The proliferation of consumer technology on campuses has created new challenges for IT departments. Will the pendulum swing back toward centralized IT, or is consumerization knocking down the old ways forever?
Ericom AccessNow, a pure HTML5 remote desktop (RDP) client that runs within a Web browser without the need to install anything on the client device, has added the ability to access the Remote Desktop (RD) Connection Broker in Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services.
Freed-Hardeman University (FHU) has adopted a cloud-based service to provide virtual desktops to users. Among the uses: mobile computing labs, application access for student workers, and advancement staff armed with Apple iPads who can now access their department's unique applications while out and about meeting with potential donors.
Babson College in Massachusetts has overhauled its back-end computing operations with a $1.7 million "datacenter in a box." The move is part of what CIO Sam Dunn characterized as a long-term vision to shift his college out of the hardware business and bring greater agility to his IT team to address the college's growth and corresponding resource management challenges.