Richmond Adult Community College - Saving the planet...and saving money!

RACC provides over 1300 courses to adults in the Richmond area. It actively promotes sustainability and eco-friendly practices, and its new building will achieve BREEAM Excellent rating, incorporating recycling and sustainable energy strategies.

When it came to installing a new IT system, as well as replacing the college's entire PC estate, a low energy, environmentally friendly system was an imperative, and so was finding a way to finance sufficient workstations and refresh the existing Apple Mac estate.

By implementing the NComputing L300 LAN based solution in two learning resource centres, the money saved could then be reinvested.

Solution: To implement NComputing L300 LAN based solutions in the Learning Resource Centres, plus to implement NComputing X550 PCle based solutions in two special teaching areas.

Results: The money saved by the implementation of virtual desktops in the Learning Resource Centres allowed RACC to upgrade all of the legacy workstations. The ongoing reduction in power used by the virtual desktop suites will save 90% of the running costs of these suites, plus contribute towards the college's 'Green' targets. Renewal costs are a fraction of the cost of replacing PCs, and are likely to last twice as long - a massive saving on capital expenditure costs.

View the PDF case study here or read in full below.

RACC provides over 1300 courses to adults in the Richmond area. It actively promotes sustainability and eco-friendly practices and has worked with the Carbon Trust to reduce its carbon footprint by 22 tonnes in 2009, and is hoping to have achieved a reduction of a further 50 tonnes in 2010. RAcc's heating systems have been updated at one site, and its new building will achieve BREEAM Excellent rating, incorporating recycling and sustainable energy strategies.

So when it came to installing a new IT system to support the entire learning experience, a low energy, environmentally friendly computer system was the obvious next step. But this was only half the story - the college needed to replace its entire PC estate to keep apace with the latest technology, and it needed to find a way to finance sufficient workstations and refresh the existing Apple Mac estate.

IT Project Manager, Ray Matthews, researched the 'thin client' (desktop virtualisation) technologies and, after seeing a demonstration of the NComputing solution, was convinced that this was what the college needed. By implementing the NComputing L300 LAN based solution in two Learning Resource Centres (which would be used for casual access, surfing the internet and Microsoft Office) the money saved could then be reinvested.

"RACC needs to provide learning using the latest technology, in order to deliver the best student experience - hence the need to update the entire PC estate", says Ray, "We need to ensure the system is robust, and so have a primary server with failover to a secondary server on each site using the L300s - this makes the central IT management of the LRCs so much easier".

"We have saved a considerable amount of money by implementing desktop virtualisation, so that we have been able to reallocate the budget, enabling us to offer facilities to our students which could not other wise have been afforded."

"In addition to the capital cost savings, we are using up to 90% less energy than running a PC suite - this not only saves money, but the energy savings also contribute to the college meeting its green targets. As the renewal costs are a fraction of those of replacing PCs, we know we will go on saving for years to come."

"All in all, a win-win solution."

Saving Money & Building on Green Ethics

"Using only 3% of the electricity used by traditional PCs - that's over 95% savings on running costs - the college has been able to reduce its energy bills and its carbon footprint. These units are also 'solid state', which means they emit virtually no heat at all, providing a more comfortable learning environment and a reduction in the need for air conditioning - giving even more savings on cost and emissions."

"From the information I have so far it looks as though the desktop virtualisation system will have  paid for itself in about a year, just through the energy savings."

Ray went on to say "people often forget about the cost and environmental impact of the disposal of PCs. PCs are usually disposed of after three to five years - these 'thin client' access devices are small and robust, so they last a lot longer and cost less to replace".

And the effect on the Enviroment?

"The desktop virtualisation 'thin client' devices are so light they produce less than 0.5% of the e-waste of a PC over a 10 year period. If more organisations bought into 'thin client' technology, there would be a significant difference to the impact on the environment."

Cooler, Quieter - A Better Teaching Environment

The desktop virtualisation solutions are quieter and produce virtually no heat, making the environment for students and teachers so much more comfortable. Also, because the units are so small and can be easily hidden and secured, the likelihood of theft or vandalism - with all its resultant headaches - is massively reduced.

Desktop virtualisation works because today's PCs are so powerful that the vast majority of applications only use a small fraction of the computer's capacity. The 'virtualisation' hardware and software taps into this unused capacity so that it can be simultaneously shared by multiple students. Each student's monitor, keyboard and mouse connect to the shared PC through a small and very durable access device.

The access device itself has no CPU, memory or moving parts - so it's rugged, reliable and easy to deploy and maintain - and if the worst should happen, it's a fraction of the cost of a new PC to replace.

By spreading out the cost of the shared computer schools and colleges can provide up to five times the number of workstations for the same money.

And the Future?

Ray Matthews says "I'm happy that the desktop virtualisation system continues to meet our expectations, and RACC will continue to incorporate the latest technology as it leads the way in providing education in a green environment. I would definitely recommend this to other colleges and schools - the savings are fantastic".