Budget cutbacks dictate that K-12 school districts look to modern IT infrastructure solutions to get the most out of their resources. Increasingly, education technology leaders view desktop virtualization as a viable way to deliver applications and resources to students while reducing IT costs.
Desktop virtualization solutions allow school IT administrators to centrally manage all of their virtual desktops in a school’s data center, significantly reducing the maintenance time and costs associated with legacy PC deployments. In addition, the desktop virtualization solution is an energy-efficient alternative to traditional PCs.
Western Wayne School District in Pennsylvania recently virtualized its desktops using VMware View and thin clients, and has been able to update hardware and software district-wide to ensure better access to applications and a consistent learning experience across all of its students. The district is now building out one of the first "green" IT campuses in Pennsylvania with two thin client computer labs running virtual desktops hosted from the high school nine miles away.
“The move to virtualization was driven by the need to meet limited budget resources, while still meeting technological and educational needs for students and faculty,” said Brian Seaman, the district’s network administrator. “Not only did we see a cost savings to the technology budget after deploying VMware View, we also saw a reduction in energy use. A typical desktop uses 100 to 150 watts of power, while a thin client uses a 10th of that amount. Virtualized desktops are the best option for sustainability and manageability.”
