Greater Lawrence Tech School Implements Web-Based Access to Windows from Chromebooks

Greater Lawrence Technical School in Andover, MA has implemented a Web-based tool to let students access Windows software from their Chromebooks.

The school is in the process of moving to a completely cloud-based computing environment, including printing, student information storage and financial management. As part of that move, the school has implemented Chromebooks for student use. However, students at the technical school need to access specialized software for their auto repair, culinary, dental, marketing and other technical programs, and much of that software runs on the Windows operating system only.

To enable the students to access those Windows applications from their Chromebooks, the school implemented browser-based access technology from Ericom Software. Ericom is a "zero endpoint installation" meaning that the client computers don't need to install any specialized software in order to use the system. Instead, they just launch a Web browser on their Chromebook, laptop or desktop computer, log on to the system and run the Windows software through the browser. According to information from the company, the school implemented the system in only an hour.

Now students, faculty and staff use Ericom Software to access applications such as Dentrix dental software, Microsoft Office, Virtual Business software, Adobe Reader and other Windows-based applications. While students are using Ericom to access software on their Chromebooks, faculty are using it to access softare through PC and Mac computers.

Now that the system is in place, the school is planning to expand Ericom to other areas of the curriculum.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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