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Desktop Multiplier Enhances Student Learning at Knox County Academy

"What really blew me away about this Multi-station Linux Desktop Strategy was the opportunity to reduce our energy costs," said Joel Ward, Director of the Knox County Academy Evening Program. "The energy savings alone have been phenomenal. Only a fraction of the electricity is required, because we now just power a single physical PC that is shared among four or eight students."

Overview

Since 1997, Knox County Academy, based in Galesburg, Illinois, has provided an alternative education environment for middle school and high school students who have had multiple suspensions, have been expelled or who are chronically truant. Adult students, aged 17 to 21, pursue the final credits of their high school diploma in the Knox County Academy Evening Program.

Computer-based learning plays a critical role in the teacher-guided, independent learning process at Knox County Academy. Students use a standard browser to access an online curriculum – learning units, tests, quizzes, worksheets and multimedia content – and websites such as Wikipedia to research for projects. But, stand-alone Windows desktops can quickly exhaust a school's resources once you factor in the costs of hardware, electricity, physical space requirements, maintenance and software licenses.

Knox County Academy deployed a cost-saving alternative – Multi-station SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops – that has dramatically reduced electricity costs, economized on space and cut down on hardware costs. R Cubed Technologies, Omni's preferred hardware OEM partner, provided the certified hardware bundle and support to migrate the school from Windows to Multi-station Linux Desktops.

The Challenge

"Knox County Academy's fixed desktop budget could not stretch to meet our growing desktops needs," said Joel Ward, Director of the Knox County Academy Evening Program. "We have a constant intake of students and class sizes fluctuate constantly during the year as students are transferred from their home school to our Day School program and Evening School students work toward their High School Diploma. Stand-alone Windows desktops are expensive, are more susceptible to viruses and provide far more processing power than a single student typically needs in our classes."

"Space is also an issue for us," continued Ward. "Ultimately, we were looking for a more cost-effective solution that would economize on space and electricity. If we could still deliver acceptable desktop performance, provide access to our online curriculum and save in these areas, we were certainly open to looking at alternative Linux desktop computing models. Personally, I have been wanting to move away from Windows for a long time and am quite excited about the prospects of learning more about desktop Linux."

The Solution

R Cubed Technologies was invited to demonstrate the Multi-station Linux Desktop Strategy at a regional Superintendents' meeting. Bonnie Harris, Knox County Academy's Superintendent, shared the message with her Technology Team and they moved ahead with a pilot. Twenty free SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Userful Multiplier licenses were provided through a free computer lab initiative for schools called "Free the Penguins".

"What really blew me away about this Multi-station Linux Desktop Strategy was the opportunity to reduce our energy costs," said Ward. "The energy savings alone have been phenomenal. Only a fraction of the electricity is required, because we now just power a single physical PC that is shared among four or eight students."

"I am experienced working with thin clients, but these virtualized Multi-station Linux desktops are far more elegant and deliver better performance. We went with R Cubed's certified hardware bundle to simplify the process of setting up, installing and configuring the desktops. Once you have the physical layout ready to go, it is pretty straightforward from there. In our case, our Day Program uses an 8-user system with four stations set up on either side of a partition; in our Evening Program, we deployed 4-user and 8-user systems."

"We are very pleased that we went with the R Cubed hardware bundle. They have been very responsive and exceeded our expectations. We have economized on space, reduced our hardware costs and save a bundle on our electricity costs."

"We notice a bit of a slowdown if all 8 students on a single PC are watching video, but otherwise performance is excellent – better than any thin client or other multi-station system that I have seen. The online curriculum works well with Firefox. Students can access Flash videos and complete their tests, quizzes and assignments online. The bundle included low-cost keyboards with built-in USB ports so students can plug in a standard USB audio headset into the keyboard and listen to music or audio as they work independently."

The Results

"I would highly recommend this solution and R Cubed Technologies' hardware bundle to other K-12 schools who would like to deploy SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and move away from Windows," said Ward. "R Cubed has really gone the extra mile for us and we have appreciated their help in getting us set up and supporting us on an ongoing basis."

"Students and staff have caught on quickly to the Linux desktop. We provided some basic training for students, and normally they were a few mouse clicks ahead of us. Many students dove straight away into working with the Open Source graphics programs that are included with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. The Desktop Multiplier is transparent to end-users."

"Our school moves based on lease agreements. It will certainly be easier to move these Multi-station Linux Desktops than having to physically move all the stand-alone desktops we used to have plus ensure that appropriate network wiring and electrical outlets are available to satisfy our needs."

"This cost-saving Linux desktop strategy will enhance our students' learning experience and provide them with the skills and confidence they need to use computers effectively and adapt to new programs and operating systems as they move forward in their careers."

More Information

R Cubed Technologies' Hardware Bundle

Desktop Multiplier Download

NVIDIA Driver Update Instructions

Squid Web Proxy Cache Download

Novell Client and Linux Single Sign-on TID