Author: Dennis Oiro

Higher education has been experiencing significant transformations over the past few years. Institutions are increasingly leveraging the power of advanced technology to offer learning services in sophisticated ways.

Students bring a variety of devices to their classrooms and expect to be connected to their classmates on the go. The teaching fraternity is also striving to record lectures and prepare lecture notes for use outside class. In essence, overwhelming content is being provided through a wide range of devices today. 

These developments are posing challenges to IT professionals who are often few and working under tight budgets. The professionals are overworking themselves trying to manage BYOD devices on a variety of networks across campus premises. Luckily, Shells has come up with a proven technological solution that can help. 

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is based on the server virtualization concept that is becoming popular among learning institutions over the recent past. It is gaining popularity for maximizing resources and minimizing costs. 

How Virtual Desktops Work

Students use virtual desktops on their devices such as tablets, iPad, notebooks, and tablets. They essentially learn using thin clients or web sessions on their devices, eliminating the need for the conventional physical PC desktops. 

That means that the virtual desktops are located in a data center in the cloud, as opposed to the traditional PCs on the premise. Hence, VDI is easier to maintain and cheaper as compared to the traditional desktop personal computers, making it a perfect fit for learning institutions. 

Further, managing the virtual desktop infrastructure stops being the burden of learning institutions and their IT professionals with desktop as a service (DaaS). The management is performed by a third party leaving room for learning institutions' professionals to focus on what matters most: imparting knowledge to students. 

What that means is that students with an IPad, Chromebook, or smartphone can easily access their cloud-based desktops without necessarily giving managerial headaches to their institutions' staff. That's the case when the institutions are using the services of an experienced vendor, ensuring that delivering virtual desktops is less complex, less expensive and easier to manage. 

Why Combine Cloud Computing with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure? 

Accessing Their Cloud Desktops from Anywhere, Anytime

The current generation of students cannot be separated from their devices, such as smartphones, mostly connected to the internet. They are always connected to wireless and other types of networks on campus premises and off-campus. Their demands on their institutions are essentially high, with them looking to connect with each other from any device at any time. DaaS delivers exactly that- a good computing experience at any time from anywhere. 

Reducing the Management Burden

DaaS also leads to a drastic decrease in the demand for IT services in the learning institutions, given that their desktops have been moved to the cloud, where a competent vendor manages them. IT personnel in those institutions are freed up from the responsibility of making sure that students' numerous devices are running properly. The boring and repetitive work of updating and installing new software is off their shoulders with DaaS. 

Enhances Scalability

DaaS enhances learning institutions' scalability, making it easier to bring onboard new students since scaling down or up computing power is easier. What's more, the IT professionals' worries of a single point of failure associated with physical desktops are eliminated, driving business continuity. 

No Unforeseen Expenses

Schools no longer need to worry about sudden spikes or unforeseen costs for new equipment during this age of DaaS. DaaS makes technological costs operating expenses rather than capital expenses since it is paid for like a utility. That streamlines budgeting since expenses are reliable and predictable. 

Enhanced Security

Security is another significant issue that has been solved by DaaS. A loss of a device does not mean that applications or files will land in the wrong hands since they are not stored on those physical devices. Applications and files are stored in the cloud and are accessed securely through correct credentials. 

Increased Flexibility

One of the most important advantages of DaaS is its flexibility. An institution can decide to scale computing power up or down depending on its needs at the time. For example, an institution can reduce computing power contracted during summer when most students are away and scale it back up when they come back in large numbers. 

Bottom-Line

Virtual desktop infrastructure is a recent concept that has found vast applications in the education sector. It is essentially revolutionizing learning as we know it. Physical computing infrastructure as we know it will continue to fade away as more students and schools embrace DaaS. Make sure that you’re not left behind as this DaaS wave rages on and grab your virtual desktop from Shells.