| INNOVATION: | INNOVATOR: |
| Northeastern On-Demand: Application and File Access, Anytime/Anywhere | Northeastern University |
Challenge
Service expectations for higher education are increasingly based on a 24/7,
constantly connected world. As new classes of students come in,
Northeastern
University (MA) is seeing more savvy uses of technology and more impatience
with not having it available in the expected “instant” timeframes. Faculty and
staff are plugging in all over the world and needing access to their tools and
information. “Information Services finds itself needing to deliver the Northeastern
experience whenever and wherever our community members want it,” explains Richard
Mickool, NU’s executive director for Information Services.
Technology Choice/Project Design
There are two major components to the solution: 1) delivering and managing
a large portfolio of applications, many needed remotely, and 2) central file-sharing
and storage capabilities for easy access to data in remote labs, off-campus,
and mobile environments. For delivering applications, NU looked at server-based
solutions such as Citrix (www.citrix.com)
and a product from Softricity (www.softricity.com),
called SoftGrid application virtualization. For file storage and sharing, NU
looked at webDAV technologies such as Apple’s (www.apple.com)
Digital Locker and Xythos (www.xythos.com)
WFS. Both component areas required: 1) scalability because they would be used
by tens of thousands of people; and 2) reliability because this would be the
mainstay of how people consume and share applications and data; 3) a quality
user experience—it had to be at least as good in speed and functionality as
users were used to when applications and data are installed locally; 4) integration—it
had to be able to integrate with the central authentication approach so that
users could link to NU’s portal and use their enterprise logins; and 5) manageability—
NU needed technologies that eased IT administrative burdens so IT could deliver
more service with less effort.
Citrix wouldn’t allow users to run the native Windows 32 applications in their
own virtual space and have them available quickly at the labs. So the university
chose SoftGrid for instant, on-demand application deployment and centralized
management, and Xythos for central file storage and sharing over the LAN or
Internet.
Key Players
The initial focus is aimed at students, faculty, and staff.
Ultimately, everyone who is part of the Northeastern community will benefit
from this new ‘On Demand’ experience. The pilot projects are central IT department
initiatives, but they rely heavily on a partnership with the staff of the College
of Computer and Information Sciences and feedback from a variety of community
members.
Results
The College of Computer and Information Sciences has moved to SoftGrid for
application delivery, and central IS has moved one of its public labs to it.
The pilot for Xythos is being used by a couple of hundred people; rollout of
both technologies to the entire campus will occur throughout the fall 2005 semester.
Two factors set this project apart: 1) NU is taking advantage of a relatively
new technology—SoftGrid application virtualization environment—on a large scale;
and 2) the solution is designed and delivered through collaborative efforts
between central IT and a college unit, “too often not achieved on college campuses,”
says Mickool, “but for us it has been a mutually rewarding partnership.”
Xythos changes people’s ability to share information easily, and makes their
data portable so that they can access it in many more locations.This is important
because NU users work in various locations at various times—behind a desk on
campus, at home, at an Internet café. Because users have control of file-sharing
capabilities, less administration is required by IT, which no longer has to
set up a network share for particular groups or maintain access permissions.
In addition, because users share files, they no longer will have to send many
large attachments through e-mail, positively impacting overall bandwidth and
performance. SoftGrid has many benefits:
Simplifying remote campus support and updates. NU
can package applications at its Boston location and then automatically update
all other sites. This eliminates the need to send technicians to remote campuses
for updates, patches, and last-minute deployments.
Anytime, anywhere application access. SoftGrid’s
ability to detach the machine from the user simplifies end user support and
enables more flexible lab management. Because SoftGrid-enabled applications
can be delivered on-demand, anyone can log on a computer at any location across
campus or at NU’s remote sites and, via Active Directory, immediately obtain
all their necessary apps.
Accelerating application deployments. By eliminating
application conflicts, regression testing, and on-site deployment, NU can cut
turnaround time for deployments in half.
Eliminating application conflicts. NU can run what
were previously conflicting applications on the same client without concern—
and without spending time on regression testing. This is particularly important
for the lab environments, which run large numbers of applications with varying
versions.
Surprises
“Honestly, the biggest surprises were that the solutions
were cool and worked!” says Mickool. “They are really going to change our capabilities
to deliver services and our community’s options for consuming them.” One big
obstacle for the NU was users’ ability to rethink how these technologies would
fundamentally change what they did and how they were doing it, in order to take
the risk to change, Mickool explains. The other big obstacle was freeing up
and scheduling people to work on these initiatives. “Everyone is so maxed out
dealing with crises and maintaining the status quo, it is very difficult to
invest time in initiatives that change the status quo, no matter how positive
the long-term return is,” Mickool observes.
Next Steps
The next step at NU is
to roll out the SoftGrid and Xythos technologies campuswide so that the institution
can realize the maximum benefits. The university will then turn to using these
technologies to really personalize the experience. The goal is to be able to
automatically authorize and deliver applications to individuals through the
university’s portal, and based on personal attributes. “Consider the possibility
that when a student registers for a certain course, he is immediately given
the ability to access and run the statistics package that is the required tool
used in that course,” suggests Mickool.
Advice
“Press everyone to think differently,”
Mickool advises. New expectations sometimes need to be met with revolutionary
approaches, tools, and practices, he explains. He suggests looking at it from
the point of view of how you as an individual would want to do business with
your organization. “You don’t want to be treated as a faceless number or part
of some vanilla, one-size-fits-all technology solution available 9 to 5, so
why would our fellow faculty, staff, and administrators?” he asserts, adding,
“Keep this mindset with you for the long term, but make sure you take small
first steps so that you can implement them. Don’t get bogged down in trying
to solve all the problems up front.”