Virtualization | News

South Carolina District Moves to Browser-Based Virtual Desktops

• By Leila Meyer
• 12/06/11

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.