Customer: K-12 vocational school and adult career center

Location: Northwestern Ohio

 

Vocational school in rural Ohio wanted to provide more reliable access to its students, who often access school systems from home dial-up connections. The customer also needed to update part of its computer fleet with newer, more reliable machines. MCPc installed a Citrix suite consisting of application virtualization software XenApp and Citrix Access Gateway to offer improved, secure access to school applications from off-site machines. MCPc also procured and installed thin client devices, rather than standard PCs, as a means to save money and reduce the need for ongoing IT support.

The school, a long-time MCPc customer, was looking for a new solution that would provide better remote access to its student population. The current system was supporting a broad range of devices, including more than 800 PCs with 25 different application images. Although the school identified the applications that it wanted to share across its campus, the current fleet of laptops could not support the total suite.

 

Additionally, due to the rural location of the school, remote access was challenging as many students only had dialup connections at home. The school wanted to provide these students with efficient and secure access to all shared applications, no matter where they were working.

MCPc put a plan in place to refresh existing hardware as well as to upgrade the school’s server and storage resources to support Citrix XenApp for application deployment and Citrix Access Gateway (CAG) to improve remote student access. The customer procured thin client devices through MCPc, which offer students the same features as a standard PC or laptop but are smaller and more resistant to viruses. Thin clients require less maintenance and only need to be replaced or refreshed every eight-to-ten years (versus three-to-five years for traditional computers).

 

For the server update, MCPc configured a small XenApp server farm to support a pilot program with 50 software licenses. This application virtualization software enabled the school to systematically provide access to a standard suite of applications to students, including Microsoft Office, AutoCad and various education applications.

 

Several months later, the customer procured an additional 100 XenApp and CAG licenses, which MCPc also installed. The CAG offers remote access to all of the school’s applications — though those that are more server and storage intensive remain on the XenApp server farm and are delivered to remote browser sessions using the low-overhead communication protocols that are a Citrix hallmark. This provides users with fast connections and load times, even for large programs. As with the majority of educational institutions, budget constraints are a reality for this customer. For this reason, MCPc leveraged XenApp’s capabilities for modular expansion, meaning that as funds become available for additional licenses, the school can easily and incrementally extend its application environment.

Immediately after the pilot implementation, the school noticed a reduction in helpdesk calls due to decreased student need for client device support as a result of the thin client implementation. Also, through the combination of Citrix XenApp and CAG, students can access the school’s systems from any location as long as they have an Internet browser. In addition, students now have access to the school’s complete application environment 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, providing them with the tools they need to complete assignments and other school activities as needed.

 

The customer is so pleased with its new server environment that they referred two other local school systems to MCPc for similar projects. If your educational institution is looking to improve the way your students and staff access school systems, MCPc is available to speak with you about your needs and to develop a solution that fits your budget.