This innovative service was created remotely and urgently so that students could continue their studies from their homes with total normality during lockdown. With the university’s closure due to the state of alarm, students, professors, and research staff lost access to computers in the campus classrooms. The IT team faced the challenge of having to provide access to all teaching applications without limitations and in record time, guaranteeing the same user experience as if they were physically at the university.
Thanks to this project, it is now possible to remotely use the computers located in the different classrooms and labs of the campus. To connect to the university’s computers, it is only necessary to have a device with a web browser (which can be a smartphone or a tablet) and internet connection.
Users just have to enter the URL of the “UNICAN Labs” service in a web browser, identify themselves with a university user, and indicate the group to which they belong: students, PDI, or PAS. The system shows the different classrooms and public equipment that can be accessed. Users click on the one they want to use, and another browser tab automatically opens, showing remote access to the campus computer. From here on, students, professors, or research staff use the equipment in the same way as if they were physically at the university. They view on their devices the programs and applications that they run on a computer located at the university.
The UC Information Technology Service is providing universal access to around 1,500 computers. And not only that, they are optimizing their performance since now computers can be used 24×7, even during non-school hours. Also, they offer more flexibility to students, who can plan to do their tasks at the time that suits them best.
Remote access to internal university resources is done through the UDS Enterprise software and HTML5 or with a tunneled RDP connection. In this way no VPN tunnels had to be established, achieving significant savings in licensing costs.
What began as a “campaign service” for lockdown has become an essential service for the University of Cantabria. Its implementation has been key to developing educational activity efficiently during this 2020/2021 academic year, in which blended teaching has been established due to the pandemic.
The project with UDS Enterprise, supported by our Gold Partner Lanmedia Comunicaciones is being extended to offer all administration and services staff a more straightforward alternative remote working method. They also plan to implement desktop and application virtualization in the future.
The excellent reception of the service by the entire university community and its multiple advantages have determined that its projection goes beyond the pandemic. It will continue to be used to make the most of campus equipment and provide greater flexibility to students.
All details about the candidacy are available at la ASLAN Awards website.
UNICAN Labs is not the only project with UDS Enterprise that is competing for the ASLAN Awards. As we told you last week, the VDI project at Los Arcos del Mar Menor General University Hospital is also a candidate for the ASLAN Awards to Digital Transformation Projects in Public Administrations.
As soon as the voting opens, we will let you know through our blog and social channels so that you can participate.
For more information about the UNICAN Labs project, see the following links:
The University of Cantabria enables remote access to your computers with UDS Enterprise
The UC launches the UNICAN project Labs to provide remote access to campus IT devices
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