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School districts are increasingly considering application servers for the purpose of delivering an instructional desktop. Obvious factors driving that choice include extending the useful life of legacy desktop equipment and the centralized IT management of software applications, with both these factors resulting in a lower cost of ownership. ClassLink has been focused on district-hosted, application servers for the K-12 setting since 1997. No other technology company has the breadth of experience and commitment in this technology for K-12; ClassLink’s award-winning Universal Learning Environment is evidence of that commitment. Why should districts consider application servers? What are the limitations? How sustainable is this solution? What infrastructure is needed? What additional hardware/software is needed? What are the true savings as compared to a traditional PC environment? These are some of the questions that we are often asked. The following are answers to those and other frequently asked questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a Universal Learning Environment™? The meaning of a Universal Learning Environment is three-fold: First, it is an environment where administrators, teachers and students are seamlessly connected to the applications they need – and to each other – through a single desktop interface. Second, a Universal Learning Environment maximizes the benefits of a school district’s educational technology by enabling communication and collaboration in support of student achievement. Finally, a Universal Learning Environment is technology agnostic (it will work on nearly any computer, new or old, Mac or PC, desktop or laptop, wired or wireless) while lowering the overall cost of technology management and maintenance.
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2. Is a Universal Learning Environment™ right for my school or district? Yes. Every school and district can harness the power and accessibility of the ClassLink Universal Learning Suite™ to create and benefit from a Universal Learning Environment. Once achieved, a Universal Learning Environment will seamlessly connect – and successfully address the technology needs of – multiple constituencies, including IT staff, teachers and students. Whether your school district is unsatisfied with its current technology solution, is looking to improve its technology total cost of ownership or is working to support district, state or federal requirements, a Universal Learning Environment is the optimal solution.
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3. How will a Universal Learning Environment™ enhance teaching and learning in my school or district? A Universal Learning Environment extends the opportunity for learning for both students and teachers. Not only does it enhance teaching and learning by making data and applications available anytime, anywhere, it also increases student-teacher collaboration with features such as real-time chat and virtual ‘raising of the hand.’ Additionally, teacher-to-teacher collaboration is enhanced with the ability to create and share lesson plans and teaching materials. By connecting teachers and students with the technology tools they need, teaching and learning becomes easier – and more enjoyable.
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4. What is a thin client computer? A thin client computer is a simple, reliable hardware device that connects to a server (typically running Microsoft Windows 2003 Server software) where applications stored and processed. A thin client has no moving parts, no hard drive, floppy drive, or CD-ROM drive. Thin clients are less expensive than regular desktop computers and they require almost no maintenance or upgrades. When you turn on a thin client, you are served a virtual desktop running on an application server, complete with a Start button and application software that performs equal to or better than a typical PC.
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5. What is thin client computing (a.k.a. server based computing)? Thin client computing, (a.k.a. server based computing) occurs when a user logs-in from any device on the network (it doesn’t have to be a true thin client computer, nearly any computer will work) for access to their virtual desktop. The virtual desktop (a.k.a. virtual session) is running on an application server on the network. Multiple application servers are referred to as an application server ‘farm’. All application software is loaded and processed on these secure, centralized servers, and can be monitored remotely by ClassLink, if requested by the school district. With server based computing, application processing occurs on the server rather than the desktop. This means that only mouse clicks, keyboard strokes and a video stream travel across the network. Server based computing maximizes server power and minimizes desktop requirements over minimal network bandwidth. The ClassLink Universal Learning SuiteTM is customized for educational settings to make the most of this technology. Many districts use legacy PCs and Macintosh computers as thin clients by installing a single software program on them and ensuring they are on the network. With ClassLink software and the know-how of our staff, managing and monitoring these application servers and ensuring every user has a custom desktop experience from any computer in school and at home is ensured.
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6. Is this the solution for all instructional technology? No. The better approach is a hybrid approach. Our typical clients implement a server-centric approach for legacy computers where local desktop management and local application performance was hampered or unsatisfactory. Additionally, they have newer computers on the network that contain a subset of locally installed software. Invariably, those newer computers are also configured to connect to the application servers to ensure that those computers can also access centrally delivered applications. The vendor community continues to make available a growing variety of technologies for the classroom, an application server model can help bring some consistency to the user experience.
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7. What are the limitations of an application server solution? All technologies have limitations and application servers have theirs too. Although the vast majority of educational software titles work very well under this model, (ClassLink has tested over 1,000 educational titles, more than any other company in the arena) certain applications are better delivered in a traditional, locally installed manner. Typically video or graphically intensive software is better served locally. So too are applications that require microphone interaction. Performance improvements of graphically intensive software delivered via application servers happens regularly in the industry. We still find the optimal approach to be the ‘hybrid’ approach (see the last question).
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8. Won’t application servers compromise the security of my system? On the contrary, most ClassLink clients find their security is enhanced. This security benefit is one reason why many IT administrators are switching to an application server model. As noted in the January 9, 2006 issue of Computerworld “the proper use of thin clients allows IT professionals to have greater control over their organizations' computer security endeavors.”
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9. What is sever-based computing? At the heart of the thin-client network is server-based computing: all software is loaded and processed on secure, central servers, monitored remotely by ClassLink server experts. Server-based computing is different from server-based information. With server-based information, you have data on servers that users access and pull down over the network to their desktop for processing. Applications work only as fast as the end user device. With server-based computing, applications and processing occurs on the server rather than the desktop. This means that only mouse clicks, keyboard strokes and images travel the network to the desktop. Server-based computing maximizes server power, minimizes desktop requirements, and requires less network bandwidth. The ClassLink System is customized for educational settings to make the most of sharing, profiles, shadowing, printing and other server-based computing features.
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10. What applications run on this system? The ClassLink Universal Learning Suite™ runs nearly all applications designed for Microsoft Windows. ClassLink has tested over 1000 educational titles and our database of testing results makes us leaders in this area. In fact, we can help recommend alternatives when a software title cannot be delivered via application servers. We are often asked “which software will not work?” Typically video-intensive software such as video-editing applications are not a good fit for application servers, and neither are applications that require microphone interaction. Those types of applications are best delivered using traditional PC’s or laptops. If you have an application and want to know if it will work on our system, call or email us with the software title and version number and let us look it up in our database. ClassLink has gone the extra step in this area and we have created tools within the ClassLink Information Console™ (CLiC™) to enable some popular applications to work on application servers where they couldn’t before.
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11. Why consider application servers as a solution for K-12 instructional technology?
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12. How scaleable and sustainable is an application server (a.k.a. thin client computing) solution?
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13. What types of issues does a ClassLink approach resolve for schools? From the start we designed our software and services to meet the needs of school districts as communicated to us firsthand. Here are some of the technology challenges that we hear time and again, are any of these your district’s challenges?
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14. What are the requirements for remote connectivity?
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15. What hardware do I need to create a Universal Learning Environment™? One of the greatest benefits of a Universal Learning Environment is the ability to utilize legacy equipment and thin client terminals – which literally solves the problem of obsolescence. The ClassLink Universal Learning SuiteTM is deployed on servers at the school building. ClassLink has developed a customized application server setup for educational settings.
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16. What infrastructure is needed?
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17. How many servers are needed?
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18. Can I use my existing servers to implement a thin client computing solution?
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19. Is Citrix software needed?
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20. What is RemoteAlert™?
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21. What is License Metering?
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22. What is Total Cost of Ownership?
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23. What are the true savings as compared to a traditional PC environment?
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24. What impact will the Microsoft Vista operating system have on the ClassLink Universal Learning Environment™? ClassLink has long been a Certified Microsoft Partner and our technical and development personnel remain current on all new and relevant technologies from Microsoft. Reviews of the Vista operating system have indicated that the changes in this new release are largely around security and display appearances of the local workstation. As ClassLink LaunchPad™ is delivered primarily via application servers and accessed through a virtual server session, the operating system of the local workstation is not a factor. Software Written for Vista: Reviews of Microsoft’s most current software development guidelines for the Vista operating system environment include support for concurrent user sessions. As such, we believe that applications developed specifically for Vista will have an increased likelihood of operating in multi-user environments such as ClassLink. Desktop Hardware Requirements: Reviews of the robust hardware requirements to run Vista seem to indicate that many of the computers found in classrooms today cannot be upgraded to this new operating system. The graphic below, as published in PC Magazine, identifies the percent of computers sold in the last few years which will be ‘Vista Aero capable’, meaning they will be able to deliver the full functionality of Vista. According to PC Magazine, essentially no computer purchased before 2003 is a likely candidate for the new OS, and only 10% of computers purchased in 2005 are likely candidates either. This inability to upgrade existing equipment to the new Microsoft desktop OS will schools result in more instructional technology challenges for districts as yet another operating system will be added to their current mix. The ClassLink Universal Learning Suite™ directly addresses that dilemma by providing a consistent, reliable and custom interface for users to access their software and files from any computer and lets IT managers support that environment from a single central management console.
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25. What software applications can be used in a Universal Learning Environment™? In a Universal Learning Environment, you choose the software applications that are right for your school or district. By definition, a Universal Learning Environment is application agnostic. This means that with ClassLink, there are no restrictions when it comes to deploying applications that are Windows compatible. You decide what applications are most effective for teaching and learning, and the ClassLink solution makes these tools available to teachers, students and administration anytime, anywhere.
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26. What about installing new applications? While most applications will run on a thin client network, they do not all run out of the box. We recommend that IT groups test all applications and compatibility before making them available in a thin-client environment. ClassLink has tested and installed more than 1000 applications. Send us a title and we will tell you if it is on our tested and approved list.
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27. Why hasn’t everyone already implemented application servers? The technology, although based on the tried-and-true mainframe computing model, is only now being embraced in the ed-tech marketplace. Previously, expensive server hardware and absolute necessity of third party software like Citrix made the cost justification difficult. Today a typical application server is in the $3,500 range (and potentially less when scaling with server blade technology) and the terminal services functionality already included in Windows Server 2003 performs very well, thus making the cost justification is easier. ClassLink’s Universal Learning Environment software offers the ability to easily manage and monitor a farm of application servers. Additionally, we have a simple turnkey approach through value-added implementation, technical support services and training. Interested in a web-demonstration of what a modern application server environment can offer? Contact us today. |
