DynamicOps Provides Flexible IT Infrastructure for University

Students gain self-service access to IT resources

LEXINGTON, Massachusetts, February 24, 2010 - The University of Buckingham is using DynamicOps Virtual Resource Manager
(VRM) to provide self-service IT resources for students in its computing
programs.

Located 50 miles north of London, the University, and its Department of
Applied Computing, within the School of Science, faced a challenge to provide
students with adequate access to computing resources.

Every time student projects changed, University IT Services had to
reconfigure computers. Manually creating these machines was time-consuming
for the IT staff. And, because they were setting up very different
environments on many servers at different times depending on the student
projects, it was a frequent, yet repetitive process. Students were limited to
one physical PC, and they had to choose Windows or Linux, which limited the
educational process.

This arrangement also limited the computing resources available to the
group as a whole. For example, if a student needed to work with SQL Server,
there was only one computer where it could be done. Students had to wait for
another person to finish on that particular PC.

The IT staff decided that virtualization could provide the computing
resources at the time they were needed and reduce the amount of staff time
spent setting up and changing computers for every new project.

The University began its virtualization initiative with Citrix XenServer
as its main virtualization software. The next step was selecting
virtualization management software. The University needed a very flexible IT
infrastructure to accommodate the varied and changing needs in the
undergraduate teaching area and for postgraduates. In addition, there was a
need to serve research groups that had very different computing resource
needs than the teaching areas. The situation demanded flexibility and the
means to move away from having University IT Services make every change to PC
configurations.

The institution turned to DynamicOps VRM, so that students could
provision virtual machines (VM) for themselves, significantly reducing IT
staff time required for this effort. VRM automates the planning, deployment
and ongoing management of virtual servers and desktops, from the time they're
created until they're retired. Using VRM, organizations deliver and manage
VMs independent of the hypervisor, connection broker, and image deployment
technology involved, all through a single console.

VRM's self-service functionality in allowing students to provision VMs
against specific facility requirements and provide automated lifecycle
management and reclamation, offered the type of flexible infrastructure
needed and solved the problem of requiring centralized management from IT
Services . Key factors in the decision to select DynamicOps were the depth
that VRM offered and the possibility for rapid deployment.

"Moving to a system of VMs managed by VRM was the ideal solution,"
explained Anthony Cole, head of IT. "We now have a flexible IT infrastructure
that can grow to meet new demands. Our central IT Services department is no
longer needed to re-provision workstations, giving us more time to focus on
other projects."

Today, an administrator approves requests, then students provision their
own VMs for their Web, database, or other projects.

"VRM can be used to limit the number of VMs students can have at any
given time," explained Torben Kuseler, who administers the program. "Because
of the ease in provisioning and decommissioning, it matters less when
students make mistakes with their VMs, because they can be quickly and easily
fixed."

"If it weren't for VRM, there would be much more pressure on students to
avoid mistakes, reducing their opportunity to experiment and really learn,"
noted Cole. "In fact, as much as they are learning other computer skills,
they are also learning about operating systems and virtualization, which will
further help prepare them for IT careers."

Before using VRM, it could take five to six hours to provision a PC in
the research lab, depending on the needed configuration and software. Now, it
doesn't take longer than 30 minutes, a 10-fold reduction. In addition, the
flexibility is helping students and lecturers with better access to computing
resources in a more timely way, not only for special projects, but in the
normal labs, classes, and lectures.

About the University of Buckingham

The University is unique in the UK as the only higher education
institution independent of government support. With students from over 80
countries, it has pioneered a distinctive approach to higher education,
offering a traditional three-year undergraduate degree in two years by
working intensively and efficiently with short vacations. The University has
four academic schools of study: law, business, science and medicine, and
humanities, and has been at the top of the National Student Satisfaction
Survey for the last four years.

About DynamicOps

DynamicOps offers virtual infrastructure provisioning and management
software. It is a private company based in Lexington, MA. VRM creates a
secure environment where virtual machines are provisioned, tracked, and
maintained from cradle to grave. www.dynamicops.com.

Sue Myers, DynamicOps, +1-978-369-6336, sue.myers at dynamicops.com