Donna Independent School District Selects Virtual Desktop Solution From VDIworks

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VDIworks, a virtual desktop software provider with a long history in centralized computing, today announced that Donna Independent School District (Donna ISD) has selected the VDIworks Virtual Desktop Platform for all of its 64 computer lab facilities and 840 classrooms for a total of more than 5,400 individual seats. Donna ISD will deploy virtual desktops using VDIworks technology to streamline IT operations, optimize use of computing resources, and save money and time by easing management of individual workstations.

Donna ISD's selection of VDIworks demonstrates the clear value of virtual desktops to schools and classrooms. Since computers are spread among Donna ISD's several campuses, supervising use to prevent abuse is difficult, and 10 full-time technicians are required to keep up with the volume of support calls, many of which require a visit to the problem machine. By deploying VDIworks, Donna ISD will benefit from ease of management, as the virtual machines are centralized, resulting in significant savings and better security controls.

"The diverse nature of our IT department is natural for a virtual desktop solution," said Marie Evans, director of IT at Donna ISD. "VDIworks Virtual Desktop Platform will provide immediate benefit, as we are expecting a near 50 percent savings in necessary support time, as well as savings in power consumption. This means we can spend more time teaching our students and less time worrying about the PCs they are using to learn."

Highlighting their close working relationship, VDIworks, Austin Ribbon & Computer (ARC), Wyse Technology and Dell Inc. collaborated to develop the most effective solution for Donna ISD. The four companies recognize the value and potential for K-12 schools of centralized, virtual desktop solutions, which provide the following benefits:

• Ease of system administration: IT administrators do not need to travel to each school to update individual machines.
• Desktop security: Students can be limited or denied access to specific software applications or web content, and data loss is reduced by moving critical information to the data center with centralized desktops.
• Energy savings: Replacing desktop PCs with thin clients and virtual desktops can result in a 90-percent reduction in energy consumption.
• Control of license sprawl: Applications can now be assigned to specific users instead of the general student population.

Donna ISD's Technology Vendors Target Expansive Market
Universally, the technology providers for Donna ISD recognize the significant potential of the solution built for Donna ISD within the broader education market:

"With its purchase, Donna ISD made a practical decision, as centralized computing technology has matured to the point where wide deployments have been proven and the virtual desktops are on price parity with box PCs," said Rick Hoffman, president and CEO of VDIworks. "VDIworks history is in centralized computing, and our platform has been deployed within PC blade environments at some of the most challenging IT environments. Deploying our technology for virtual desktops at Donna ISD is a natural evolution of our heritage."

"As ARC has met and exceeded the technology requirements for public entities across Texas for many years, we are constantly looking for new technologies that cater to the specific IT needs of our customers," said Jana F. Grimes, CEO at ARC. "Virtual desktops in many ways are tailor made for schools. They are perfect for disperse PC deployments, IT environments with limited budgets, and enforcing security policies regarding data control. With the leading technology from VDIworks, we feel the Donna ISD solution can be easily replicated in other school systems."

"Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing, is excited to be a key partner in the continued successful effort towards K-12 educational virtual desktop solutions," said Maryam Alexandrian, senior vice president of worldwide sales and channels at Wyse Technology. "In an era of tightened education budgets, more complex IT challenges, and rising energy costs, Wyse thin computing has emerged as an extremely popular and successful solution for schools across the country. The VDIworks and Wyse Technology solution, built with the help of ARC, is being adopted in an increasing number of educational IT environments."

About VDIworks
VDIworks makes easy-to-use software that enables IT managers to centrally create, deploy and manage virtual desktop infrastructure. The company's technology is based on more than 20 patents and is built on five generations of proven success with enterprise environments. VDIworks offers ultimate flexibility and preserves customer choice by giving customers the ability to deploy the right solution for the right user type, utilize any back-end hardware, end-point user access device or virtualization technology for desktop virtualization. The VDIworks Virtual Desktop Platform streamlines and simplifies virtual desktop deployments, enabling IT organizations to gain improved management and control, ensuring data and asset security, delivering a superior end-user experience, and ensuring the business continuity and cost reductions promised by desktop virtualization to companies around the world. For more information on VDIworks, visit www.vdiworks.com.

About Wyse Technology
Wyse Technology is the global leader in thin computing. Wyse and its partners deliver the hardware, infrastructure software, and services that comprise thin computing, allowing people to access the information they need using the applications they want, but with better security, manageability, and at a much lower total cost of ownership than a PC. Thin computing allows CIOs and senior IT professionals to reduce costs, manage risk, and deliver access to information. Wyse partners closely with industry leaders Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, and others to achieve this objective. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, with offices worldwide.

For more information, visit the Wyse Web site at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE.

About Austin Ribbon & Computer (ARC)
Since 1984, ARC has been the technology partner of choice to government, education, and healthcare entities throughout Texas. As a certified Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) in the State of Texas, ARC works through contracts with the DIR to supply customers with the latest technology including hardware, software and services. ARC Founder and CEO Jana Grimes was recently honored by CMP Channel Publications as one of the most powerful women in the channel.

Additional information can be found at http://www.arc-texas.com.

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