Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Becoming a Reality

Jimmy Bagwell, Chair, TTC Foundation Board 

of Trustees, presents TTC President, Mary 

Thornley with a check for VDI.

After TTC Foundation raised more than $2 Million for the Technology and Equipment Fund during the Building Opportunity Campaign for Trident Technical College, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is becoming a reality. In fact, many students, faculty and staff are already using the technology.

The campus-wide conversion to this transformational technology initiative will allow the college to realize more than $3 million in net savings over the next 10 years while furthering the college’s mission to provide more affordable, accessible educational opportunities for all students and faculty members, across all programs and campuses.

VDI replaces individual desktop computers with a client/server cloud system. VDI, which pushes software applications from a central server to individual units, eliminates the need for costly desktop computers that require constant upgrades and have an average five- to seven-year life span. TTC currently replaces 500 computers annually; converting to a VDI will save the college $750,000 each year. These significant cost savings will be reallocated to other essential college priorities.

VDI benefits students and faculty members by making education more accessible and affordable. With VDI, students and faculty can use their computers, smart phones or tablets to access resources that are now available only from TTC-owned computers. Students no longer will need to purchase expensive software for their personal computers. Rather than traveling to campus computer labs, a VDI will allow TTC students, most of whom balance families and careers with academic learning, to work from anywhere at any time.

The environmental benefits of TTC’s proposed VDI are significant. In addition to keeping 500 desktop computers out of landfills each year, a VDI utilizes “zero client” workstations that require one-tenth the electricity of traditional computers. Students can telecommute rather than travel to campus computer labs, reducing their carbon footprint.

Corporations that have embraced VDI technology have realized increases in productivity with decreases in expenses. TTC, long recognized as a pioneer of educational innovation, is one of the Southeast’s first institutions of higher learning to implement a VDI.