Students and staff at a university in British Columbia will soon be benefiting from a new computer system and remote access from any device, and administrators will be benefiting from hardware, support and power savings.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), which has campuses across B.C.’s Lower Mainland in Richmond, Surrey, Cloverdale and Langley, is currently working with solution provider Compugen to deploy 1,600 Dell Wyse zero clients to replace its previous infrastructure of PCs and thin client devices. The new infrastructure will connect with the university’s Citrix XenApp virtual desktop environment to serve 17,500 students and 1,600 staff and faculty.
“Our track record and experience in implementing zero clients in a Citrix XenApp environment was a huge advantage as we could anticipate the challenges and provide tried and tested solutions in response,” said Dell Canada president Kevin Peesker, in a statement. “We’re delighted that KPU now has a technology solution that offers a richer learning environment built on Dell servers and Dell Wyse zero clients.”
According to the university, it expects reduces hardware costs and longer refresh cycles, as well as reduced management and maintenance costs and lower power consumption will allow it to realize $647,000 in annual cost savings. For users, the new infrastructure will mean faster boot-up and log-in times and the ability to run new multimedia rich applications.
“We knew we wanted a zero client solution and quite simply, Dell Wyse was the only vendor that could meet this requirement,” said Sukey Samra, associate director for information and education technology at KPU. “Students, staff and faculty alike are realizing the positive benefits of the zero client deployment. The machines run silently so students can concentrate better. They reduce heat so libraries and labs are cooler, quieter and more conducive to study. Log-in is much faster. Students and staff can log on to a Dell Wyse zero client in a matter of seconds, which helps them maximize available study time and achieve better academic results.”
Next up for KPU is a bring your own device strategy to allow staff, students and faculty to access the network from their own devices.