Guest blog by Bill Smeltzer, CTO of Focus Technology Solutions
A constant flow of help desk calls used to be a normal day for Fitchburg State University (FSU) in Massachusetts, with malware and virus calls consuming hundreds of help desk hours. The challenges FSU faces are providing end-to-end support for computers belonging to their 7,000 full- and part-time students, along with supporting the desktop computers used in classrooms and campus computer labs. FSU was looking for an alternative to costly, unmanageable desktops and at the same time recognizing that they needed to prepare for a new generation of students gravitating toward consumerized computing devices.
With expert guidance from VMware partner Focus Technology Solutions, FSU put into place a VMware Horizon virtual desktop infrastructure for 200 virtual desktops for which they had determined virtualization would deliver immediate benefits. This solution has improved the manageability and reliability of the university’s classroom and library computers. And all of those daily help desk calls? Down by 80%! And it’s just the beginning. The solution puts FSU on the path to being able to offer device-independent desktops to students, online classes, and more.
Want to learn more about how FSU achieved these terrific results? Check out the case study that details more about how FSU and Focus worked together to set FSU up for its future computing needs.
