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INNOVATOR 2005: Northeastern University
7/28/2005
ResultsThe College of Computer and Information Sciences has moved to SoftGrid for application delivery, and central IS has moved one of its public labs to it. The pilot for Xythos is being used by a couple of hundred people; rollout of both technologies to the entire campus will occur throughout the fall 2005 semester.
Two factors set this project apart: 1) NU is taking advantage of a relatively new technology—SoftGrid application virtualization environment—on a large scale; and 2) the solution is designed and delivered through collaborative efforts between central IT and a college unit, “too often not achieved on college campuses,” says Mickool, “but for us it has been a mutually rewarding partnership.”
Xythos changes people’s ability to share information easily, and makes their data portable so that they can access it in many more locations.This is important because NU users work in various locations at various times—behind a desk on campus, at home, at an Internet café. Because users have control of file-sharing capabilities, less administration is required by IT, which no longer has to set up a network share for particular groups or maintain access permissions. In addition, because users share files, they no longer will have to send many large attachments through e-mail, positively impacting overall bandwidth and performance. SoftGrid has many benefits:
Simplifying remote campus support and updates. NU can package applications at its Boston location and then automatically update all other sites. This eliminates the need to send technicians to remote campuses for updates, patches, and last-minute deployments.
Anytime, anywhere application access. SoftGrid’s ability to detach the machine from the user simplifies end user support and enables more flexible lab management. Because SoftGrid-enabled applications can be delivered on-demand, anyone can log on a computer at any location across campus or at NU’s remote sites and, via Active Directory, immediately obtain all their necessary apps.
Accelerating application deployments. By eliminating application conflicts, regression testing, and on-site deployment, NU can cut turnaround time for deployments in half.
Eliminating application conflicts. NU can run what were previously conflicting applications on the same client without concern— and without spending time on regression testing. This is particularly important for the lab environments, which run large numbers of applications with varying versions.
