Warwickshire College chooses RES Software's Desktop Management solution from Prolinx


One of the largest further and higher education colleges in the UK adopts user workspace management technology from Prolinx to drive its strategic desktop transformation project

GREAT MILTON, OXFORDSHIRE, UK – Prolinx Ltd, the IT systems integrator today announced that Warwickshire College has chosen Prolinx to provide a solution to manage the deployment of the college's new desktop virtualisation environment, based on VMware View 4.5, and its migration to Microsoft Windows 7. The solution leverages award-winning technology from RES Software, the proven leader in user workspace management.
The project, which will cover over 3,500 desktops located across 6 campuses, will enable the college to upgrade its desktop environment while significantly reducing the cost of ownership of its desktop estate.
The first phase of the desktop transformation project will see the deployment of the new environment to 650 thin clients in the college's new state-of-the-art Rugby campus, which opened in July. A further 2,900 desktops across the college's remaining campuses will be migrated to the new platforms in 2011 with RES Software.
Warwickshire College is using RES Software to simplify the process of moving critical settings and security policies to the new desktop environments. It will also provide a single point of control over the college's entire PC and thin client estate, automating many of the essential administrative tasks involved in the ongoing maintenance and support of its desktop computing resources. In addition, the solution will enable the college to take a structured approach to migrating desktops from Windows XP to Windows 7, and will enable the new platform to be made available to users in faster time.
Paul Maddock, IT Director at Warwickshire College, said, "The catalyst for reviewing our desktop strategy was the rebuilding of our Rugby campus. It gave us the opportunity to rethink how we could modernise our computing resources. We decided to adopt desktop virtualisation for a number of reasons, but primarily we wanted to reduce the cost of managing and supporting our desktop estate and the hundreds of applications used by our students and staff. At the same time, we wanted to upgrade our Windows environment to take advantage of the new capabilities provided in Windows 7 and give our students enhanced access to applications and services."
Warwickshire College has been able to overcome the challenges associated with applications that would otherwise be unsuitable for virtualisation, whilst ensuring no degradation of performance for the user even when using extremely resource-hungry applications. Furthermore, the IT team retains central control over the entire user environment.
User workspace management is a critical component of any desktop transformation project, from the deployment of virtual desktops or new desktop hardware through to full OS migrations such as a move to Microsoft Windows 7. RES Software separates a user's desktop from the underlying operating system to create a dynamic user workspace. This can be applied to any new desktop environment, ensuring that personal profiles and settings remain in place even though the underlying infrastructure has changed.
RES Virtual Desktop Extender (VDX) offers the unique capability to merge local physical resources with a virtual desktop image and create a single end user workspace. This approach means that applications or devices such as CD-ROM units on the physical desktop can run natively, enhancing the end-user experience as well as increasing the reach of desktop virtualisation technologies.
For further information:
Goode International
Tel: +44 (0) 1491 873 323
Email: mark.kember@goode.co.uk /
claire.chapman@goode.co.uk
Prolinx
Marketing
Tel: +44 (0) 1844 279199
Email: luke.hayes@prolinx.co.uk

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