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For 1,500 students enrolled in eight of Temasek Polytechnic's School of Informatics and IT (SIIT) diploma courses, the implementation of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) this semester has boosted their ability to learn and collaborate anytime, anywhere via their mobile devices. Each student is given access to a set of applications based on their entitlements, i.e. course of study. 

The polytechnic in Singapore recently adopted VMware View on campus. In the virtual desktop environment, the school will leverage private cloud resources and maintain a managed, secure environment to provide new ways for lecturers and students to engage and collaborate across applications and data from any device, where and when a student needs it.

Recent enhancements to VMware View 5.1 enable IT organizations to streamline provisioning, configuration management, connection brokering, policy enforcement, performance monitoring, and application assignment from a single management console. IT organizations can also increase security and compliance by moving data into the datacenter, centrally enforcing endpoint security and policy configuration and streamlining antivirus processes.

"VDI allows flexibility for the lecturers to design their courseware and it allows them to keep up with the latest technology," said Garluck Lai, manager of Infrastructure Systems & Technology at Temasek Polytechnic's SIIT. "For example, in the past, to install any update or latest software in the labs, the lecturers will have to inform us and then, it takes two or three days for us to install and set up the environment. With VDI, we can that within half a day."

Other benefits include the ease of refreshing lab systems for each new session or incoming batch of students and overcoming physical constraints in class schedules.

"For example, [in the past] we can install software licenses in only in two labs and we may have students from six classes," Lai explained. "So, we have to reschedule or stagger the classes. These problems have been removed because we can now [support] six classes concurrently as long as we have [the resources, systems and labs] and we can push out the images."

The SIIT refreshes its desktops every three to five years, including the computers in the labs and it has been a challenge for the school to keep up not only with the pace of technological developments but also changing user behavior. "A lot of new software that we introduce require higher memory, graphic cards, etc.," said Mandy Mak, the deputy director of Technology and Academic Computing at Temasek Polytechnic's SIIT.

"The other trend is that students are bringing in their own equipment," Mak added. "Even during lessons, students may prefer to use their own equipment for learning. About 90% of our students already have their own equipment. In fact, they are requesting us to supply more power points for charging their [mobile devices]."

However, not all students use the latest machines. At their homes, students may still rely on desktop computers a few generations behind. "What we want is for them to still use their existing machines without any issue [with compatibility and support]," Lai said. "So, one of the solutions is to deploy VDI."

"We're also helping students from humble backgrounds who are unable to [procure] a high-power notebook or desktop at home," Lai added. "A VDI environment, which requires minimal computing power on the client side, will really help them."