In the summer of 2008, we (Rockhurst University, a Jesuit University in Kansas City, MO) took a leap of faith and chose to convert all of our computer labs from traditional PCs to thin client computers using Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology from VMware.  The reason it was such a leap of faith was that Rockhursts Computer Services Department was unable to find any other school that had implemented more than just one small lab of thin clients using VDI.  Typically, due to the cost of PCs, we would change all the computers over a two-year period. With the switch to VDI, the goal was to replace all 230 traditional lab PCs in one summer.   This not only saved the University money in the form of capital not spent on computer labs in the subsequent year, but also allowed savings from an energy standpoint.
  
The project is also considered a green initiative as it helps the environment in other ways as well.  Thin clients create much less carbon when manufactured than traditional PCs, are shipped in much smaller boxes and  have a life span of about six years compared to four years with traditional PCs.   This added benefit helped improve the image of the University with students, faculty, staff and the city, as we were also featured in the Kansas City Star newspaper.   The old computers were replaced with faster technology and some students never noticed they were using a thin client.  One student, while using the new thin client system, was asked if they noticed anything different from last year.  He replied that the computers are faster and said, It looks like you got new mice and keyboards.

The technology was the main factor in even considering such a project.  Without large and reputable companies such as VMware and Wyse, we would not have been such an early adopter of this technology and probably would not have even considered it.  We had been using VMware for consolidating our server environment for some time.   Our VMware servers were so successful that we saw very quickly that the next logical step was to do the same for the desktop environment. 

Some would say that the use of virtual machines harkens back to the days of terminal devices and mainframes.  While it is a very similar situation in concept, virtual machine use brings much more robust and reliable systems as a result of years of technological advances over the old days.  On the horizon, cloud computing also appears to be the future for a lot of services.

Yes

Yes

One of the new advantages that thin clients provide to the students is the ability to move among the labs on campus and always be working in their own personal environment.  For example, if they are working on a paper or project on a thin client and the building loses power or there is a network issue in the building, they can got to any other lab on campus, log back in with their credentials, and start working again with the same desktop, exactly where they left off, even if they had not saved their work.
 
The thin clients have also benefited students because they make less noise than traditional PCs, making it easier for students to concentrate in class or when writing a paper.
  
The project also benefits the University as a whole because the thin clients do not need to be replaced every four years, but rather every six years.  They also cost less than a traditional PC.  This saves much-needed funds that can be used for other critical IT-related updates and applications.
 
Finally, one major advantage to our Computer Support staff is a great reduction in the annual computer lab preparation time.  Staff members no longer need to visit every lab and re-image every computer each semester.  All of this is now handled quickly and more efficiently by our Network staff.

Multiple students and faculty members have benefited because they have continually thanked us for the quieter work stations in the labs across campus.  The project has also benefited some of the organizations on campus that are pushing Rockhurst University to be more environmentally friendly.  We even received a huge thank you card from one of these organizations called Voices for Justice..  It was signed by all the students in that organization and was a great boost for us to receive such a thoughtful card from our students.  (See attached images).

For the students, the intended audience, there has been little difference in their day-to-day use.  They enjoy many advantages over stand-alone PCs, including increased portability, faster computing, and increased up-time.

For the IT department, support is dramatically changed in the fact that images can be deployed over the network without ever touching the end devices.  In the past our support team had to manually go to labs to re-image them and also to add software.  Now all of this can be done remotely and without the need of sending out a desktop support representative into the labs.  This frees these support people to focus on other job tasks.

The exceptional aspects of our project are the green benefits, the energy savings, the cost savings, and this cutting edge system that allows us to do more and offer more than a traditional PC environment would. It is also exceptional in the fact that we are the first University to fully deploy VDI to all computer labs on campus.

The first and largest obstacle we encountered was very early in the process.  Simply making the leap into virtual desktops for all computer labs was a huge decision and commitment for the University.   We had no prior virtual computing labs or experience with using thin clients or VDI.  The second obstacle was financial. We had a very constrained budget that had to cover this project as well as other IT needs. We spent a total of $155,000 on all the hardware, software, licensing, and 3 years of support for all aspects of the system. The third obstacle was the tight deadline for the project, which required us to implement the system at a time that would have the least impact on students and to complete the final phase of the project  switching out and donating our old PCs to other needy schools in the area  before the academic year began and our staff was needed elsewhere.

There were a few people that were timid about switching out all the PCs at first and suggested we only do a few labs to start with, but ultimately we decided that from a financial standpoint and in the spirit of keeping standardization in the labs, we would take the leap and replace them all at one time.  This was a very brave thing to do because if it had not been successful, it was quite possible someone in the department could lose their job over it.  Our staff is committed enough and talented enough to face that risk for the overall benefits of the University and the students.

Exceeded

The project itself has achieved its goals and exceeded our expectations.  We would say that it continues to evolve as there is even a newer version of the VDI software to which we upgraded over Spring Break (March 9th  13th, 2009).  So far, it is working flawlessly, with some areas of improvement that we will be able to utilize with a license upgrade to be considered for the summer of 2009.
  
We have already met with or spoken to 35 other organizations from all different areas about the project.  Many of them are now in the implementation process of similar projects.  We also presented our work at a conference held in Missouri for Higher Education Institutions.  At the presentation it was standing room only.  From a Rockhurst standpoint, we have been extremely pleased with the success of this project and are already looking forward to possibly implementing thin client laptops for faculty, staff and students that could be used anywhere in the world with an internet connection.  Employees and students would then have access to all the resources we have on campus, while at the same time, we would be keeping the institutions data secure, as all of it would reside on the servers in our data center.

Our students are definitely our targeted audience and they really embraced the thin client initiative from the very start.  We had instant approval from the Student Senate to move forward with the project and once the other students found out how much energy we could save and how environmentally friendly the units are, they were completely sold on the idea.