CASE STUDY
Horizon 7 brings everything under one
central command, allowing the university
to deliver more bespoke services to users
while saving time and money,” Irving said.
The University of Sharjah had been
a long-term user of VMware’s ESXi
infrastructure and when looking at
virtualising the desktops, selecting
VMware made sense.
“All the infrastructure and IT services are
running on VMware ESXi Infrastructure,”
said Husam Saleh, Head of Infrastructure
and Operations Section, Information
Technology Centre. “This maximises the
ROI in terms of usage of resources. We
started our virtualisation journey in 2006
and ever since we did not look back.
VMware ESX has the complete package
to deliver the complete picture and with
complete reliability.”
Impact
want,” said Rob Irving, IT Director at the
University of Sharjah.
Irving and his team were worried that with
the existing infrastructure, they would not
increasing the efficiency of the delivery of
IT services and strengthening security, the
IT department decided to virtualise the
desktops, using VMware VDI Horizon 7 to
enhance the delivery of applications and
WITH VIRTUALISED DESKTOPS, THE IT
DEPARTMENT IS ABLE TO FOCUS ON
WHAT IT SHOULD BE DOING.
be able to meet the university’s ambitious
plans. A comprehensive virtualisation of the
university’s desktops operating in a cloud
environment appeared to be a major part of
the answer.
Action
To increase students’ and faculty members’
freedom to work from anywhere, while also
62
INTELLIGENTCIO
user workface in a more efficient manner.
This was first introduced for academic staff
and laboratories, before being deployed for
all students.
“I’m a big fan of VMware’s VDI Horizon
7 because of the flexibility and efficiency
it brings to desktop deployments. Instead
of IT resources being wasted fixing minor
problems on multiple different desktops,
The deployment of VMware’s VDI
Horizon 7 increased flexibility by
delivering windows desktops and
applications to non-windows devices. VDI
also significantly lowered the total cost
of ownership per desktop, allowing the
university to replace and repurpose PCs with
thin clients.
It also enabled Bring Your Own Device
policies to be implemented without
sacrificing IT security or control, which
helped in modernising the university’s
approach to the delivery and management
of content.
With virtualised desktops, the IT department
is able to focus on what it should be doing –
delivering world class IT services to enhance
teaching and learning. With VMware Horizon
7, the university is able to offer students
a wide selection of apps, from alerts that
remind students to attend seminars to
options for remotely attending lectures and
secure access to course materials online.
The deployment also brought significant
cost savings in IT support, helpdesk call
volume, desktop management and hardware
costs. Moreover, centralised management
of desktops also lead to more robust and
easier-to-administer security. n
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