VDI for schools - please help

[virtualogist]

In summer we are hoping to implement VDI at our school. it will be a full VDI solution supporting up to a total of 60 users. The current system is old and we need to replace it asap. on the other hand we dont want to implement a system that will end up more frustrating than the old one. Can anyone give some advice if VDI would be ideal or not. I have read and done so much research about it and felt it could help. However I have never seen VDI in action. I would also not mind if our IT department do a site visit to a school that has VDI so as to gauge how it works as well as user satisfaction, etc, etc. Thank you for your help.

[glennda]

It all depends on what you want to acheive - VDI can be excellent but it can also be not so good depending on A: what technology you use B: what softwares you want to run at the end of it.

[jamesfed]

It all depends on what you want to acheive - VDI can be excellent but it can also be not so good depending on A: what technology you use B: what softwares you want to run at the end of it.

 

It might be too far for you but always happy to entertain people in Abingdon (Oxfordshire).

 

We held a demo day at my place not so long ago and I've got quite a few posts on my blog about schools/VDI here - VDI | my world of IT

[gshaw]

VDI in theory has some great benefits but still painful on the initial setup costs imo

[Kitkatninja]

We're starting this week on setting up Citrix's VDI-in-a-Box at our place, we'll be replacing two suites (so 60 PC's). Initial we were going to run it all off 1 server, so no redunancy until next financial year, however we've merged it in with another project (so we have redunancy now). To be honest, we spec up £500 per PC generally, so the cost of the VDI solution (running on one server) came out cheapers (new wyse terminals, but reusing the current TFT monitors).

[superatticman]

My first piece of advice would be to take your time, don't rush into it because you are interested in the technology, and to make sure there is a clear business case for the implementation. Weigh up the pro's and the con's and ensure you factor stuff such as remote access into the equation.

 

If you are planning on implementing it in an ICT suite, then be wary that it doesnt really run multimedia applications such as video or audio editing applications as well as a decent physical PC. Theres also a few issues with some flash related applications.