LDCSB – Windows Enterprise Virtualization
About the client
With more than 3,000 teachers, administrators and support staff to help deliver strong learning, The London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) serves more than 21,000 students in Ontario, Canada. LDCSB features an optimized technology environment of 6,300 desktop and notebook computers for teachers and administrators and relies primarily on Microsoft technologies. It also supports more than 100 third party and legacy software applications running on the Windows XP operating system.
Challenges
The LDCSB operated within a disparate IT environment and needed a more efficient and cost-effective way to deploy and manage applications to reduce IT administration costs and improve application access for staff. With staff and teachers using various iterations of Microsoft and third-party business productivity software, the school board needed to standardize on newer technologies such as Microsoft Office 2010 and the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system.
The LDCSB was also looking for a more efficient PC management strategy that would allow the IT department to update and manage PCs with software updates and security patches more quickly and effectively. Deploying and managing applications was time consuming and tedious, and the IT team was burdened by a tremendous amount of application-related compatibility issues.
Solutions and Benefits
To improve operational efficiencies, the LDCSB worked with Itergy, a Microsoft technology expert, to centralize and standardize its IT infrastructure on Microsoft software. This included upgrading its desktop operating systems to Windows 7 Enterprise and server operating systems to Windows Server® 2008 R2. The new IT environment allows users to take advantage of DirectAccess, a new feature in Windows 7 Enterprise that gives staff seamless secure access to LDCSB’s network without having to use a virtual private network. In addition, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager was utilized to ensure better management of patches, image deployment and software inventories. The LDCSB is also now using Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) — part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) — to help virtualize and dynamically deliver applications across its environment. Bénéfices The school board is achieving a host of benefits within the standardized IT environment. The new learning environment runs faster than ever on the existing hardware and is delivering improved educational outcomes for students. Standardizing on Windows 7 Enterprise also enables the school board to manage application compatibility more efficiently, particularly for its productivity software applications previously running on Windows XP. User Account Control, BitLocker™ data encryption, improved security, Group Policy, and other Windows 7 features enable users to have a more flexible and secure PC experience.
The school board is achieving a host of benefits within the standardized IT environment. The new learning environment runs faster than ever on the existing hardware and is delivering improved educational outcomes for students. Standardizing on Windows 7 Enterprise also enables the school board to manage application compatibility more efficiently, particularly for its productivity software applications previously running on Windows XP. User Account Control, BitLocker™ data encryption, improved security, Group Policy, and other Windows 7 features enable users to have a more flexible and secure PC experience.