South Carolina District Moves to Browser-Based Virtual Desktops

A South Carolina school district is providing its 30,000 students, teachers, and staff with browser-based access to Windows applications and desktops from smartphones, tablets, laptops, and netbooks. Richland School District Two is deploying Ericom AccessNow for VMware View for use at its 35 K-12 schools as part of the district's "1 Two 1" initiative to make computers available to every student in grade 3 through 12.

Ericom AccessNow for VMware View is a virtual desktop client that runs in any HTML5-compliant browser without the need to install any client software.

"AccessNow fits right in with our goal to provide students with a computing experience that closely matches the traditional, full desktop computing experience and is affordable, productive, supportable, and highly functional," said Tommy Carter, IT systems engineer for Richland. "AccessNow will also provide us with broader reach to our expanding VDI infrastructure. The project is in the final planning phase. Deployment to students is set to begin mid-January 2012. We hope to serve as a model to other school districts and present a solution that is very affordable, sustainable, and highly functional."

Students and teachers will use Ericom AccessNow for VMware View to access educational programs such as MAP and ALEKS, productivity suites such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite, and educational Web sites. Students and staff will be able to log on at school, at home, or anywhere else they have Web access to make use of the school's resources from anywhere and with any device.

Richland School District Two is located in Columbia, SC and serves more than 26,000 students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The district is home to 18 elementary schools, seven middle schools, four high schools, four magnet centers, two district-wide child development centers, and two alternative schools.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • abstract smartphone translucent screen displaying AI interface

    Apple Unveils Redesigned Siri AI

    At its recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced Siri AI, a redesigned version of its voice assistant that Apple describes in its own announcement as "a profoundly more capable and personal assistant." The update is intended to make Siri more conversational, more context-aware, and more useful across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro.

  • large cloud icon with abstract code  and interconnected polygons

    Report: Enterprise AI Workloads Are Tipping Toward Private Cloud

    Broadcom's 2026 Private Coud Outlook report says enterprise AI is moving from experimentation into production, with private cloud emerging as the preferred deployment environment for AI inference among surveyed organizations.

  • broken digital lock and glowing chain

    Check Point Researchers: AI Has Crossed into the Live Attack Chain

    AI is moving beyond assisting cybercriminals and beginning to operate within live attacks, according to a recent report from Check Point Research. The technology is making sophisticated capabilities faster and more accessible while creating new security risks for businesses deploying their own AI systems.

  • Glowing digital padlock breaking into tiny cubic fragments over complex circuit board background

    Research: Basic Security Failures Continue to Fuel Enterprise Breaches

    Many enterprise breaches still begin with familiar weaknesses, according to a new report from SonicWall.