IT rooms accessible remotely during non-school hours with UDS

• Name: University of Almería

• Sector: Education

• Number of students: 14,000 approx.

• Location: Almería (Spain)

The students and research staff of the University of Almería (UAL) have started the 2020/2021 academic year enjoying the possibility of accessing the computers in the IT classrooms to carry out their practices from anywhere. They only need a device with an internet connection and, without having to perform any previous installation, they can connect remotely to the computers in the IT rooms that have the programs they need to fulfil their practices and work installed. “Thanks to UDS Enterprise we guarantee our students access to the PCs in our classrooms where the licensed software is installed, regardless of their location and with basic computer resources,” explains Emilia Quereda Escoriza, Head of the Teaching Support Area of the ICT Service of this University.

UDS Enterprise and OpenGnsys are the two key components on which the ARAI Service (Remote Access to Computer Rooms) is based. “The interoperability of these two solutions allows us to provide remote access to an IT room with 100 computers 24×7 and to another 16 classrooms, with 400 computers, during non-school hours,” says Quereda.

The union of these two software provides their remote access infrastructure with important advanced functionalities to optimize the use and performance of their physical PC fleet. “The definition of calendars to delimit the hours in which students can use the equipment and remote start-up are essential features,” states the Head of the Teaching Support Area. Unlike other tools, UDS Enterprise and OpenGnsys can be configured so that the computers remain off until a user requests access, avoiding unnecessary wear and tear on equipment and providing energy savings. The power on is done very quickly, without waiting times. Also, the administrator can set a number of computers to be turned on before being occupied to further streamline the process.

Among other options, the UAL has restricted the maximum time during which a student can use a computer and the idle time after which the system automatically closes the sesión so that the computer can be used by another person. They have also created an alert that is sent minutes before usage times out, so they can save their documents and continue working on them later.

For students, using this service does not pose any difficulty, since it only requires entering a URL in a web browser. The IT team has customized the appearance of UDS Enterprise so that two tabs appear within the ARAI Service. One shows the computers available for uninterrupted access every day of the week. In the other, there are all the computer rooms that can be accessed during non-school hours. In addition, the system indicates the number of teams available in each class.

PARTNER + MANUFACTURER: BEST-IN-CLASS SUPPORT

The IT team at the University of Almería decided to trust UDS Enterprise “after colleagues from the University of Málaga and Sevilla told us about their great experience,” comments the Head of the Teaching Support Area. Its compatibility with OpenGnsys was also decisive, since they have been using this open application for years as a system for cloning and distributing software in computer classrooms.

To implement the joint solution, they had the support of Fortics, UDS Enterprise Gold Partner, and the VDI broker’s team of experts. “All the advisory and installation tasks carried out by Fortics have been fully satisfactory and the UDS team has helped us whenever we needed it. The support service is exceptional, both the information they provide for any query and their cooperation is excellent,” assesses Quereda.

Their first contact with UDS Enterprise has been very productive. “The experience with the software has been very positive. It is highly recommended in Education because the product allows the creation of a support environment for non-face-to-face teaching, taking advantage of the resources and infrastructure of the university at a specific time,” says the IT Manager. Quereda extends the recommendation to any sector, since “the implementation of this tool provides access to the company’s ICT infrastructures from any location with a basic equipment and being able to work as if you were in the company facilities”.

REMOTE ACCESS INFRASTRUCTURE

• Broker: UDS Enterprise

• Physical machines’ manager: OpenGnsys

• Connection protocol: HTML5

• Authenticators: LDAP and Internal Authentication System

• Physical PCs OS: Windows

• Number of classrooms and devices:

  • 24 hours access: 100 computers

  • Access during non-school hours: 16 IT classrooms – 400 computers