University Business - April 2011 - (Page 41)

the Desktop By Ann McClure aught up in Cloud fever, Campus it leaders across the nation have virtualized their server rooms. having fewer servers didn’t make the world come to an end; in fact, just the opposite happened. staffers have more time to work on critical tasks and energy bills have gone down since it departments aren’t cooling massive data centers anymore. since starting the migration to a virtual environment in 2007, West Texas A&M University has saved an estimated $1.2 million, says Cio James Webb. that taste of success has given it departments the urge to pare down and virtualize other technology. “i see a world where everything that can will be automated and put online,” says Jorge mata, chief information officer of the Los Angeles Community College district. the logical next step is to essentially hit the computer labs and desktops around campus with a shrink ray and convert them to a virtual desktop infrastructure (vdi). “the whole reasoning behind moving to the desktop is to get the same benefits you get from server virtualization,” says dana loof, vice president of marketing for pano logic, a vendor in this space. here are some things to think about before disposing of those old Cpus in an environmentally responsible way. universitybusiness.com Virtualization is moving from the server room to the desktop The Technology C managing, upgrading, and securing traditional computers is a very inefficient proposition, points out dustin fennell, vice president and Cio of Scottsdale Community College (ariz.). “When you look at the traditional environment, if you refreshed a unit, it only benefited the person at the unit, it didn’t extend technology to a new area, it didn’t help the budget. it just replaced the ‘milk carton’ that would expire again in a few years.” Budget concerns, a desire to be more efficient, and the need to extend technology to nontraditional students who don’t have time to come to campus to visit the computer lab all contributed to fennel starting a migration to a virtual environment in 2008. “desktop virtualization is a lot like satellite tv,” explains dave podwojski, director of education for Citrix, scottsdale’s virtual computing vendor. “the [satellite provider] functions as the content aggregator. they build a lineup of programs and categorize them. But, basically, if you substitute the word ‘program’ for ‘application’, then you have a foundation for thinking about desktop virtualization.” the master, or “golden image,” of the virtual desktop resides in the data center. users access their data and applications over the April 2011 | 41 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - April 2011

University Business - April 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Financial Aid
Models of Efficiency
Shrinking the Desktop
All Things Transfer
Sudden Impact
Internet Technology
What’s New
End Note

University Business - April 2011