International Journal of Communications (IJC) Volume 2 Issue 1, March 2013

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VirtualDesktopsinInstitutionsofHigher EducationUsingVMwareView
JordanSEKEMBOUNGOUMOUYABI
SchoolofLaw,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand,Johannesburg 1,JanSmutsAvenue,Wits2050,SouthAfrica Jordan.Seke@wits.ac.za

Abstract Rapid advances in information technology are impacting every aspect of human life on a daily basis. These advances have affected Institutions of Higher Education as well. Institutions of Higher Education, however, have different IT requirements.Thesedifferencesaredeterminedpartlybythe typeofhardwareandsoftwarethattheyuse. At a time when business entities are striving to minimize costswithoutcompromisingthequalityofservicesrendered, the choice as to what software to acquire must reflect considerations such as costs, infrastructure, equipment, management, accessibility and modernity. These are the advantages that are borne with the acquisition of a VMware View,usedforthecreationofavirtualdesktop. The School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand is the first School within the university to use VMware; and among the first within the Southern African region. Just as recently introduced, its impact is already being felt in different aspects cost minimization, minimal utilization of space,efficacy,etc. Personal experiences, informal conversations with other users within and outside the university community, dictate to us the unbeatable advantages and benefits of using VMware. This paper considers the various options available for the acquisition and management of virtual desktops in Institutions of Higher Education, and highlights its advantages. Keywords Higher Education;Virtual Desktop; Breakthroughs;Hardware;Software Technological

operatingenvironment which is separate from their local physical system i . The decisions on what equipment and software including budgeting, challenges and the willingness to brace for technological breakthroughs felt in other aspects of humanlifeandITOutsourcingcapacity. Infrastructural maintenance and upgrade within institutions of higher learning are not limited to buildings. Much money is spent by universities every year to maintain, patch and upgrade computers and computer peripherals.1One of the reasons for the high cost of a desktop infrastructure is complexity. While Personal Computers (PCs) have become indispensable tools which have become increasingly complex, and costly to manage from an IT department point of view.2 With the birth of Virtualisation technologies, desktop Virtualisation has become an essential topic for organisations. This is driven by profound concerns and inexpressible dissatisfaction with existing full desktop environments. These concerns and dissatisfaction include high costs, complex management, slow provisioning, security, inflexibility, etc. Virtualisation, Its everywhere in the Information TechnologyCommunity todayandevery vendor hasa product that is somehow tied to Virtualisation, and existing products and technologies are suddenly getting renamed so as to associate them with Virtualisation3. Though some Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and universities have already invested in Virtualisation strategies; many are still looking to integrate the VDI component into their existing

Introduction In todays complex Information Technology (IT) environments, many organisations have turned to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) in the hope of minimising costs, gaining better performance, reducing downtime and getting more efficient utilisation of resources. Desktop Virtualisation is a method to provide users with a complete

2AdnanA.ChawdhryandDr.CharlesMance.(2010)Virtualization: Providing better computing to university ISECON Proceedings, V27n1401 3 Valovic, Tom. (2009) The disappearing Desktop: How VDI is changingtheGame. 3ScottLowe,MasteringVMwarevSphere4,2009

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International Journal of Communications (IJC) Volume 2 Issue 1, March 2013

implementation/infrastructure. This paper provides additional details to VDI in universities or HEIs and willalsohighlightthekeyfeaturesofVMwareview. What is Virtualisation? The concept of Virtualisation is not new despite the fact that the term Virtualisation may sound new to manyofus.However,itspracticecanbetracedbackas far as the 1970s, when mainframe computers ran multiple instances of an operating system simultaneously.4 For some advocates including myself, Virtualisation is defined as: in computing, the creation of a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, such as a hardware platform, operating system, a storage device ornetworkresources. Scott Lowe in his book onMastering VMware Vsphere 4 defines Virtualisation as the abstract of one computing resource from another computer resource. 5 Mark Siegrist, introducing Virtualisation to instructors simply refers to the typical case and context: A machine within a machine, or a computer running insideacomputer,preconfiguredbytheuser.6 Virtualisation requires the use of two main competing pieces of software: Microsoft HyperV and VMware. These two have both their merits and demerits, which have triggered a passionate and rational debate as to whichisbetter. Virtualisation provides a uniform computing experience for students regardless of the computers age. Although each computer may have different specifications, it still provides a uniform experience since the desktop environment exists on a virtualized serverbutnotontheindividualcomputers.7 However, when most IT professional think of Virtualisation, they think of hardware Virtualisation; which refers to abstractingoperating systems to run simultaneouslyonthesamephysicalserver.8 There are three main types of Virtualisation: Storage Virtualisation, Network Virtualisationand Server

Virtualisation. All the three types carry out important tasksinbusinesses.Willoughbymentionstheexistence of 3 varieties of Virtualisations of education: technological,geographicalandorganisational.9 According to Willoughby, technological Virtualisation includes the use of multimedia telecommunication and learning management systems, other technology mediated learning tools. Geographical Virtualisations universities (VUs) are collaborations of institutions at different geographical locations, while the partnership arrangement for the delivery of teaching and learning referstoorganisationalVirtualisation. Scott Lowe is of the opinion that VMware is certainly worth a look for organisations that have standardised on VMware as their Virtualisation platform of choice.10The virtualization of computer labs, HEIs and universities are conserving financial resources, reducing the need for heating, cooling, electricity and data centre space.11This streamlined approach makes the life of the IT technician much easier. It also makes the system seem much less complicated to the human eyethanitreallyis. Key Benefits of VMware View Universities have also learned that the use of Virtualisation to support desktop assignments, like the use of Virtualisation in support of traditional server assignments, creates a range of significant benefits. Among them are improved IT management efficiency, improved price efficiencies, and improved functional proficiencies.12 Somebenefitsthatinclude: CostReduction With the use of VMware view, cost of overall desktop computing is reduced by up to 50%. 13 Users need access to several applications that often require access to higher performance and graphic. To address this demand, the typical approach is to put in place a standalone computer with various attributes,

9 Willoughby, K.W. (2004). The Virtualization of universities Education: concepts, strategies and business Models, journal of appliedEducationalTechnology.Volume2,Number1. 10 Scott D. Lowe (2010). VMware View 4.5 (Part 1), at http://www.virtaulizationadmin.com/articlestutorials/vdi articles/vmwareesxserver. 11 TCC(2010).VMware academic program, http://www.tcc.edu/faculty/webpages/Rking/VMware_Academy.pdf. 12IDCResearch,(2009).QuantifyingthebusinessValueofVmware View. 13idem

4 Server Virtualization Under the Hood, June 2010. http://www.coretekservices.com/2010/06/servervirtualization underthehood/. 5ScottLowe.Op.Cit.5 6Mark Siegrist. (2011) Leveraging Virtualization Technology for e Learning, Learning Solution Magazine. http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/615. 7IBM(2007)VirtualizationinEducation 8ScottLowe.Op.Cit.5

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including graphic power as the normal CPU needs to bechangedatleastonceeverythreeyears. IT departments have difficulty in managing these deployments. Unfortunately, this need is driving up costsfor IT departmentsas theyattempt to balance the needs of users with financial constraints, internal policies, and compliance requirements.14Virtualisation provides a valuable solution to these IT challenges by lowering operating costs. Virtual desktops provide additional software license savings over traditional computers.17Thepracticeisthateverythingrunsfroma single point or server where all licenses have been loaded and the same PC is duplicated over the network and change Internet Protocol (IP) to give every user a PC to work on. From endusers perspectives, they execute their applications and use personalsettingsjustasifthemachineswerephysically located on their desktops. 15 It therefore prolongs the lifecycle of desktop equipment thereby enormously reducingthecostofusingthinclientequipment. DecreasedPowerConsumption Virtualisation is being used by an increasing number of organisations to reduce power consumption, air conditioning needs, trim the building space and land requirements that have always been associated with server farm growth.16VMware View offers decreased power consumption by reducing financial and carbon costs of desktop power by up to 80% when used in conjunction with clients. This typically uses a tenth of the power of a Personal Computer (PC). According to SteveNorris, in larger environments the savings costs associated with cooling their data centres can be higher than 85%.17Many organisations have reduced their desktop power consumption by 93% by using VMware to replace traditional desktops with thin clientsthatuseonlyninewattstopowereach.18

The sociopolitical ramification of global warming requiring good corporate citizens to meet greenhouse reduction targets creates an added incentive for Virtualisation.19 ImplicitBusinessContinuityandDisasterRecovery Leverage automated failover, load balancing, backup, recovery, other builtin datacentre class, business continuity,anddisasterrecoverycapabilitiestoprotect desktop data and ensure continuous availability for endusers at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditionalsolutionsareotheradvantages.20 Using virtual servers can help improve the overall disasterrecoveryprocessregardlessofwhatthefailure is on the server. Virtualisation allows a user to quickly recover using a simple process 21 as desktop applications, user data and documents are very difficult to backup because of the decentralised nature of traditional desktop computing.22Virtualisation plays an important role in disasterrecovery efforts and with this technology; it is likely to apply solutions for disasterrecoverytoworkstationsaswell. TimetoDeployment&DataSecurity The benefits of virtual desktops start with the ease of deployment of applications. If the traditional solution takes one an hour per PC over a period of a year deploying new applications to that PC, now one will probably spend only15 minutes or less to do the same deployment to the virtual PC. 23 This technology enormously improves application delivery. 24 Security of data is essential to the university background as hackers and external threats always target users (students, faculty, staff and even visitors) information and data. This concern integrally reduces the ability to move data from the superiority of the IT environment with Virtualisation processes as information or data residesinthedatacentrenotonasinglePC. With Virtualisation, security can be monitored more closely and virus threats reduced. Furthermore, if a mobile device is lost or stolen, no loss of valuable data occurs because the device is stateless.25In other words, in computing, a stateless protocol is a communications protocol that treats each request as an independent

14VMwareView.4.5.ModernizeDesktopandApplication Management,athttp://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Vmwareview 45dsEN.pdf. 17AdnanA.ChawdhryandDr.CharlesMance.Op.Cit.2 15Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit.3 16ThomasBurger.TheAdvantagesofUsingVirtualization Technologyintheenterprise.http://software.intel.com/en us/articles/theadvantagesofusingvirtualizationtechnoloyinthe enterprise 17Norris,S.(2009).3reasonstovirtualizeyoursmall business.http://ezinearticles.com/?3ReasonstovirtualizeYour SmallBusiness&id=2116982. 18VMware.White paper. solving the Desktop Dilemma with User Centric Desktop Virtualization for the enterprise. http://vmware.sharedvue.net/sharedvue/resources/whitepaper_Solvi ng_Desktop_Dilemma.pdf.

ThomasBurger.Op.Cit.19 VMwareView.4.5.Op.Cit.16. 21AdnanA.ChawdhryandDr.CharlesMance.Op.Cit.2. 22Op.Cit.20. 23IDCResearch.Op.Cit.14. 24Op.Cit.20. 25Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit.3

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International Journal of Communications (IJC) Volume 2 Issue 1, March 2013

transaction that is distinct to any previous request so that the communication consists of independent pairs of requests and responses. A stateless protocol does not require the server to retain session information or status about each communications partner for the durationofmultiplerequests. OperationalUseofHardware With Virtualisation, strict device requirements are no longer standard requirements to connect to a network. Eachandeveryuserownsamobiledeviceofhisorher choice.Virtualisationallowsuniversitiestoprovidethe students desktop environment on a broad range of devices since the devices simply need to act as a thin clientratherthanafulldesktopcomputer26. Endusers benefit from Virtualisation as they get the same rich desktop experience, but with the added ability to access the computing environment from a multitude of devices and access points everywhere.27 VDI can use PCs and laptops, or a new generation of products. Thin and zero clients can replace the legions of windowsbased desktop scattered throughout universities.28 How Does Vmware View Work? Astechnologyvariesinuniversitieslikeanywhereelse in the world, students increasingly need freedom and flexibility to access their applications and data from any device and location. VMware View is the industrys leading desktop Virtualisation platform, and the only purposebuilt solution for delivering desktopasasecuremanagedservice.29 Architecturally, it brings among its core technologies VDIthatprovidesarobustplatformforhostingvirtual desktops in the data centre using the VMware ESX hypervisor, along with the highly scalable VMware vCenter Server solution for centralized management and rapid provisioning, and unique distributed infrastructure services for hardwareindependent backup,failoverandrecoveryofvirtualdesktops..30 Using VMware View, universities can manage hardware, operating systems and applications independently of each other within a unified framework.Thisresultsinausercentricapproachthat essentially improves desktop management by

dropping costs, strengthening security and tightening control over corporate assets while providing end userswitharichandflexibledesktopexperience31

FIG.1USERCENTRICENTREPRISEDESKTOPCOMPUTING WITHVMWAREVIEW

VMware VDI (renamed VMware View) is a combination of products that work in concert. The three core foundations are the ESX hypervisor, VirtualCenter management layer and desktop manager32. Among other advantages, VMware View increases the protection of the workstation; and decreases considerably the need for a helpdesk as well as management of versions of operating systems and applications. Diverse categories of Virtualisation can be used in different circumstances in order to apply resourceswhenandwheretheyareneeded. VMwareView4.5istheleadingdesktopVirtualisation solution from VMware. It is built for delivering desktops components, operating system, applications, and personal (user data and settings). It allows IT to manage them independently of each other for extreme businessagility.33 VMware view offers its proficiencies through its key features. Universities and other HEIs have to consider the offline desktop feature and the kiosk mode in the nearestfuturewithintheircommunities. The following diagram from VMware shows the architecture of view 4.5 adopted by the Wits Law School.

AdnanA.ChawdhryandDrCharlesMance.Op.Cit.2. 27VMware.Whitepaper.Op.Cit.21. 28Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit3. 29VMwareView.4.5.Op.Cit.16. 30VMware.Whitepaper.Op.Cit.21.

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idem Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit3 33 EMC, white paper (2010). Costeffective Storage Solutions for VMWare View 4.5 enabled by EMC Unified Storage. Also available at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMwareViewEMCunified StorageWP.pdf
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NonPersistent Users are Provided a Machine from a PoolofAvailableVirtualMachines The main difference between a persistent and a non persistent desktop is that persistent desktops can contain a second virtual disk to which the Documents and settings folder is moved. User data is effectively put on another disk, so in case an administrator decides to assign a different snapshot or image to a user, all user data in the Documents and Settings folderwillstillbeavailable.
FIG.2VMWAREVIEW4.5ARCHITECTURE

DesktopVirtualisationviaaDedicatedModel There are several compensations associated with this modelofVirtualisation.Perhapstheleadingoneisthat itallowsuserstohavecompletecontrolovertheirPCs. Thisleadstoincreasedproductivity. A desktop is more than a piece of mechanism. It reflects the user and his or her work style. Dedicated desktops allow users to configure their PCs to work most efficiently for them. For example, some workers liketopersonalisetheirdesktopsforeaseofnavigation, accesstofilesandrebootingwhennecessary34 In other words, the Dedicated Model is known as Persistent Settings. Users are allocated a dedicated desktop that retains all of their files, applications and settings between sessions. The desktop is statically assignedthe first time the user connects.35 I have to underline the fact that this setting supports offline desktop andoffline indicates a disconnected state. In others words, Offline is the condition of being capable of but currently not connected to a network of computers or other devices. The term is frequently used to describe someone who has the ability to be connected to the Internet but who is not currently connected toit.For this particular case,offline desktop is to simply download an encrypted virtual desktop ontothelocalclientdevicewheretheoperatingsystem, applications and data can be securely accessed with or without a network connection. Any changes can be synchronized back to the datacentre when back on the network.

Users allocateany desktop currently available in the pool, which may differ between sessions. This desktop is assigned dynamically each time the user connects. This type of desktop does not support Offline Desktop.36 Virtualisation Institutions Rationale Within the framework of implementing virtual desktopsintheSchoolofLaw,acquisitionofhardware and familiarisation of the functioning and advantages of Virtualisation become two key important aspects andtasks. VirtualizingDesktopintheSchoolofLaw SinceJuly2010,theSchoolofLawhasacquiredVirtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). This was driven by a few factors: firstly, the need to effectively respond to the increasing number of students within the School; secondly, the reduction of costs on IT assets expended on regular CPUs every year; thirdly, to save on maintenancecost;finally to expose Wits Law Schoolto a rapidly changing and massively growing aspect of computingandITcalledVirtualisation. The Head of the School of Law approved the initiative to move towards a virtual environment. The initiative started with the Law Library to further reduce these costsandbetterallocateITsupport.TheWitsSchoolof Law adopted VMware as software is used for Virtualisation tasks and it is running a Network Virtualisation type. This solution allows the School to upload the application to the virtual environment and each workstation can access the application from it, which has considerably reduced the amount of time to installanddistributenewapplications. in Higher Education

HenryTuttle(2010).DesktopVirtualization:SharedorDedicated?: WhichModelofDesktopVirtualizationisbestforYourBusiness http://www.suite101.com/content/desktopvirtualizationsharedor dedicateda194489#ixzz1Ij518oyE. 35ITSDesktopVirtualization(VDI):FrequentlyAskedQuestion. http://www.itd.umich.edu/virtualization/desktop/faq/.

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The School of Law has also found a number of other benefits from switching to a virtualized environment. The solution is fully compatible to run any Operating System (OS). IT portfolio within the School is investigating in order to enable other features of VMware allow students to access applications from anyplaceintheworld. This becomes an excellent tool as it reduces time and costs of Windows 7 migration by 50%. It doubles the speed of Windows 7 migrations, cuts costs to half by speedily provisioning virtual desktops that endusers can access without upgrading their hardware, and by virtualizing legacy applications to eliminate OS compatibilityissues.37 The School of Law runs the two types of Virtual Desktops: Persistent and NonPersistent. The students run the NonPersistent Desktop, which does not allow them to change background or settings on the virtual workstation. The Persistent Desktop is recently introduced to accommodate Research & Teaching AssociatesoftheSchoolofLawaswellasthesessional lecturers who can save work on virtual disks, and also personalisetheirdedicateddesktop. SituationOverview To ensure that PCs continue to be active in order to maximise the availability of workstations in the School of Law, IT has to perform several tasks. Although the extent to which these tasks pose contests, IT fluctuates significantly depending on the number of desktops on campus, within the School of Law components, the control requirements that must be met, andthe requirements for maintaining a desktop environment are fairly consistent and are often viewed in structure ofaPClifecycle.38 Each and every PC lifecycle includes four operations: acquisition, deployment, maintenance and retirement. Everyoperationisaprocessthatrequiresinvolvement; but retirement involvesin various tasks. It typically includes deleting sensitive data, removing installed applications to harvest licenses, and disposing of the device.39 The School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand like any other department within the University used a physical Infrastructure with desktop

PCs. All the students were authenticated by a single ActiveDirectoryDomainController. ThestudentsorusersmadeuseofPCs,loadedwithXP to access the internet and Microsoft Office. Internal storage was used for all PCs. There was no common storage. There were 48PCs in the Library. Printing was doneovertheWitsNetwork. The following diagram shows the environment before Virtualisation.

FIG.3SITUATIONOVERVIEW

SolutionOverview The School of Law moves to a new Virtual Infrastructure using VMware vSphere 4.1 as the hypervisor and VMware View 4.5 for the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). A University that employs Virtualisation gains greater responsiveness and elasticity while encouraging more effective use of itsITresources. IBM servers with an EMC storage device (common storage) provide the physical infrastructure for the Virtual Desktops.Students access the Virtual Desktops by using WYSE S10/C10 terminals. The current Wits network Infrastructure is used (Network and switching). Each new station is composed of a Wyse terminal,LCDdisplay,keyboardandmouse. In the first phase of the move, it was decided in collaboration between the Head of School of Law and the Senior Local Area Network (LAN) Administrator of the School to design and implement a standardised, uniform VMware View environment (nondedicated workstations) across 50 terminals which would also be split between 2 floors in the Law Library (Oliver Schreiner Building). Then 10 terminals would be added to the 50 to be installed in the PhD or Postgraduateroom. Running on the same server IBM, the two solutions run different OS and Microsoft Office. The 50 Virtual Desktops of the Library run Windows XP as OS and Microsoft Office 2007 and the 10 terminals for the PhD

VMware.Whitepaper.Op.Cit.21. IDCResearch.Op.Cit.14. 39idem

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room run Windows 7 as OS and Microsoft Office 2010 Plus. The following diagram shows the new architecture of the School of Law virtualized environment.

Discussion Technology changes all the time. Bringing a new and hot topic like Virtualisation into the IT paradigm shift of today in any organisation can be hard and difficult for many people to digest. But there is no doubt that Virtualisation can provide a number of benefits to the university that will help the students, faculty, and the IT department in many ways of operations.40It is true that any IT decision depends primarily on budget and many financial constraints compel IT staff to put in place temporary solutions instead of good and definitiveones.However,eachandeveryorganisation, including universities, has policies in place to make effectiveandwiseuseofitsITresources. CostSavings Compared to the upfront capital expenditures of deploying a traditionally distributed PC, the upfront capital expenditures associated with building aVirtual environment can be significant.41However, savings in the virtual environment is significant and arguable because of its inclusion of several factors like WYSE terminal which averages over five years and costs less money compared to a normal CPU. WYSE terminals use less power. Impalpable cost is observed with less IT human support needed to upgrade, deploy and maintain workstations. Another saving is on repairs as all devices are plugandplay associating to less down time. There is furthermore no Operating System or harddrivetogiveandtake. Challenges Likeanyotherwelldesignedtechnology,therearestill some innate limitations within the architecture of the solution. Although organisations may have the same solutions, challenges may not be the same but to a certainextent,theysharethesameproblems. Virtualisationin my personal opinion is the way to go and there whichis no doubt about it. But before any further adoption of the solution or technology; universities have to bearin mind first of all, budgetary constraints. They should look at the limitations occurring with technology considering the upfront capital expenditure that includes storage and server hardware, Virtualisation and Virtualisation software managementandthenetworkinfrastructure.

FIG.4SOLUTIONOVERVIEW

Later, during the course of the acquisition year 2010, the Acting Head of the School of Law fully agreed with the Virtualisation strategy within the School. He allowed the Research and Teaching Associates programtouseavirtualsolutionaswell. In January 2011, with Stortech, our solution vendor and VMware partner, the School of Law took started another project called VMware phase 2. 34 Dedicated Virtual Desktops were installed in another building. Thismeansthatusershavethepowertochangeadmin settings on their own. They can also use the full functionality of the Virtual Machine. At the deployment phase, all Virtual Machines (VMs) are uniform. However, each user, after assignment to the desktop, can personalise that particular desktop and beabletosavehisorherworkonthatdesktopaswell. Thirty Virtual Machines run on desktopbased computing. This means that a users workstation is composed of the monitor, keyboard, and mouse and WYSE terminal. In the second phase of the project, 30 are fully running on fixe and immobile desktop solutionand4arerunningonWYSElaptopswithhard drive free. Data is stateless. In case of loss or theft, the user will be able to access and recover all his/her data from the inconstruction data centre of the School of Law. With this addition of Virtual Machines (VMs), a single IBM server was added on top of the previous environment in order to support the second phase usingthesameEMCstorage. On the server side, the School of Law new virtualized infrastructure utilized Microsoft server 2003 and 2008. Since the acquisition of the solution, many things have changed within the school starting from the space point view to the maintenance point level. Few challengesareunderlinedfurtherinthediscussion

40 41

AdnanA.ChawdhryandDr.CharlesMance.Op.Cit.2. IDCResearch.Op.Cit.14

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Looking further on Network connectivity bandwidth is always questioned in implementing Virtualisation; performance is limited when connected to a unified computing environment. The truth is that with VMware view, our students and staff members within the Wits law School are experiencing a new level of technology while we are looking forward to extending the boundaries in offering them secure access from anywhere they may find themselves. However, with traditional VDI, there is one huge Achilles Heel: The Network. 42 Many of todays sophisticated hacking attacks begin by targeting endusers computers. One of the simplestand perhaps most effectiveways to bolsterenduserandnetworksecuritycouldbetolimit local computer administrative rights, according to a few studies. The network infrastructure with the TraditionalVDIneedstobeupgradedandredesigned. SchoolandStudentBenefits Unquestionably, VMware view modernises desktop andapplicationmanagementbyenablingyoutocreate a private cloud for delivering dynamic Virtual Desktops on demand over any network to endusers on any devices.43Although this functionality is not yet available at the School of Law, the truth is, everyone willbenefitfromthevirtualenvironment. A virtual environment enables a quicker recovery of failed systems and an additional speedy deployment ofapplicationsoverthenetwork.Withthekeyfeatures of VMware view,Virtualisation will play an important role in portable computing projects as lecturers and studentswillliveandworkinacloudcomputingera. Schools and students will be offered the possibility of choosingOperatingSystemsthattheyfindcomfortable working with on their mobile devices as well as applications by virtualizing birth right applications to eradicatecompatibilityissues. VirtualisationMarket As mentioned early in this paper, Virtualisation requires the use of two main competing pieces of software: Microsoft HyperV and VMware without mentioning other competitors in the marketplace. These two have both their merits and demerits, which have aroused a profound dispassionate and lucid argumentastowhichisbetter.

AccordingtoAdnanChawdhryandDrCharlesMance, referencingthemselvestoLuceandBednarz,Microsoft joined the Virtualisation marketplace after their acquisition of Virtual PC and Virtual server from connectix in 2003. It recently introduced a new Virtualisation application known under the name of HyperV. Microsoft can provide a lowcost solution since their Virtualisation software is included in their software packages or offered at no extra cost. They believe as Microsoft has limitations on providing advanced features compared to others, VMware, as I mentioned, is perfect for a university with a small IT supportstaffandhugefinancialconstraints.44 It is without any doubt that each and every organisation will defend the software of its choice. However, it is also true to acknowledge the necessity of extending business continuity to any organisation that will engage itself to Virtualisation. The leader of the market is known. VMware view is built on the industryleading VMware VsphereVirtualisation platform. This provides unparalleled performance, scalability, reliability and availability for virtual desktopenvironments.45 Manyauthors continue toconfirm thelead of VMware in Virtualisations Marketplacewhile technology continues to make our lives much easier and more challenging.49Only VMware View provides the platform, management tools and rich user experience which universities need to reduce costs, streamline administrationandincreasestudentssatisfaction.50 It is no doubt that,there have been and are still simulation development products in the market that can raise the depth of education software. However, they are very exclusive as they come with a steep learning curve and increase the development timeline. Because of these, they have not been adopted by most universities51. Although you may pay reasonably a little more for VMware application underline Adnan and Dr Charles, the return is a better developed environment, with many years of experience, and functionality that surpassesMicrosoft.46 EvolutionandRevolutionofVirtualDesktops

AdnanA.ChawdhryandDrCharlesMance.Op.Cit.2. VMwareView.4.5.Op.Cit.16 49Op.Cit.14 50Op.Cit.8 46AdnanA.ChawdhryandDrCharlesMance.Op.Cit.2.

44 45

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ScottD.Lowe.Op.Cit.10. VMwareView.4.5.Op.Cit.16.

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According to the IDC research 2009, early adopters of Virtual technology will continue to provide a proving ground for software vendors that will be investing heavilyinwhattheyperceivetobeaveryhighgrowth market.47Valovic is asking if desktop PCs will in their current incarnation decline from view as they become increasingly virtualised? 48 The growth is quite exponential. In this era of cloud computing which is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server where Virtualisation is arequirement,theITparadigmwillshiftwithinyears. IDC sees the growth in capabilities of virtual desktop platforms as a twotier model, with growth coming through evolutionary improvements in Virtual platform such as VMware View. 49 The revolution of Virtual Desktops is also a huge question as many observers have different views on the topic and the market is growing too fast, with increasing demands everyday. IDCmentionsakeyinnovationthatisonthecrossover of becoming available, which is implicit with the inclusion by VMware of an experimentalmode offline Virtual Desktop capability. 50 Not every user stays connected to the organisation network all the time. In fact, mobility is a strange thing with VDI and with View. View can significantly enhance mobility efforts bydecouplingusersfromtethereddesktops.51 This revolution requires moving on from a model where everything revolved around a device, to a model where the user plays a vital role. Therefore, the user gains a high degree of independence from the device. It is true that the wave of mobile device proliferation and underuse has occurred and VMware view eliminates several of the aforementioned limitationsassociatedwithVDI. While the pros and cons of VDI for endusers are still being discussed, the benefits to IT departments are moreobvious.52 Opportunities Regardless of technological changes, the continued challenge universitiesfacing is how to take benefit of

the rapid advances in IT in an economical way, and integratethemwiththeexistinginfrastructure. Innovation is done by people. Innovation in IT helps facilitate the policies required to meet business strategies and exigencies considered essential to success. The adoption of Virtualisation in higher educationisaprojectingexample. I fully agree with the view of IDC encouraging IT management to consider hiring services organisations that have built practices specifically around the planning and implementation of Virtualisation environments.53Furthermore, there are much potential opportunities associated withVDI or VMware view that universities must consider as Virtualisation (as a technology) is rapidly finding its fashion to other aspectsofIT. As concluded by Adnan and Dr Charles, universities must recognise that Virtualisation will require a large amount of initial capital, but the longterm effect will cut overall IT costs allowing universities to use more effectively their IT staff.54Virtualisation is a new wave ofsignificantopportunitiesandnoonemustbeleftout. Mache Creeger underlines the fact that we work in the industry thatpridesitself on changing the world, one that chantsaconstant mantra ofinnovation and where new products could aptly be described as the technologicalbreakthroughofthecentury.55 Conclusions Taking an optimistic view on higher education environment nowadays and an exploration of the aforementioned points in this paper, it is strongly believedthatVirtualisationisanewsecuredfashionof deploying massive applications and managing larger numbers of desktops. These happen where VMware view is made, and comes in as the first step in the IT strategic vision in the era of cloud computing. The overallpurposeofthisistobringtheeducationsystem up to the standard that meets the requirements of the 21stcentury. Withanimpropercollocationofexposingthispaper,it is with a firm conviction added to my conclusion as other authors do, that VMware view is the way to go. Furthermore, there is no exception about it as it provides universities and HEIs several benefits on

IDCResearch,Op.Cit.13 Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit.2 49Op.Cit.13 50IDCResearch,Op.Cit.13 51ScottD.Lowe.Op.Cit.11 52Valovic,Tom.Op.Cit2

47 48

Op.Cit.13 AdnanA.ChawdhryandDrCharlesMance.Op.Cit.1. 55 Mache Creeger.(2006), Evolution Revolution?http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1127873

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every level. These give them the ability to offer latest technologywithoutanycompatibilityissues.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Mache

Creeger.Evolution

or

Revolution? .2006,

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1127873 AccessedFebruary23,2011.

It is a pleasure to thank those who made this paper possible. I owe my deepest gratitude and warmest appreciation to the following people, who, in any way have contributed and inspired me to the overall successoftheundertaking: ToProfessorJonathanKlaaren,headoftheLawSchool forhisapprovalandtrust; To Professor Pamela Andanda,for guidance and encouragement;to Dr. Avitus Agbor and Ms. Verine Etsebeth for the remarkable patience they exuded in perusing and deciphering my hardly legible manuscript. To my wife Carine Ali, my kids Julien Leandre and Clline Leandra seke for their support and pure hospitality; finally to my colleagues, who have been unselfishly extending their effort and understanding towardthiswork.
REFERENCES

Mark Siegrist. Leveraging Virtualization Technology for e Learning, Learning Solution Magazine.

http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/615. 2011. Accessedonthe25August2011. Norris, S. 3 reasons to virtualize your small business. http://ezinearticles.com/?3ReasonstovirtualizeYour SmallBusiness&id=2116982. 2009. Accessed on the 3 March2011. Scott D. Lowe. VMware View 4.5 (Part 1), 2010.at http://www.virtaulizationadmin.com/articles tutorials/vdiarticles/vmwareesxserver.AccessedMarch 10,2011 Scott Lowe, Mastering VMware Vsphere 4, Sybex; 1 edition (August31,2009) Server Virtualization Under the Hood, June 2010. http://www.coretekservices.com/2010/06/server virtualizationunderthehood/.AccessedApril3,2011. TCC.VMware academic program,

(2010).http://www.tcc.edu/faculty/webpages/Rking/VMw Adnan A.ChawdhryandDr. Charles Mance. Virtualization: Providing better computing to university ISECON Proceedings,V27n1401.2010 EMC, white paper Costeffective Storage Solutions for VMwareView4.5enabledbyEMCUnifiedStorage.2010; Also available at are_Academy.pdf.AccessedJuly16.2011. Thomas Burger. The Advantages of Using Virtualization Technology in the enterprise.

http://software.intel.com/enus/articles/theadvantages ofusingvirtualizationtechnoloyintheenterprise. AccessedJuly26,2011. Valovic, Tom. The disappearing Desktop: How VDI is changing the Game. 2009;

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMwareViewEMC unifiedStorageWP.pdf.AccessedJune10,2011. Henry Tuttle .Desktop Virtualization: Shared or Dedicated? : Which Model of Desktop Virtualization is best for Your Business http://www.suite101.com/content/desktop

http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2009/01/01/the disappearingdesktophowvdiischangingthe game.aspx.AccessedDecember19,2012. VMware view 4.5 and Stateless Virtual Desktops: http://www.entreprisemanagement.com. Accessed, April 22,2011. VMware View. 4.5. Modernize Desktop and Application Management, at

virtualizationsharedordedicated a194489#ixzz1Ij518oyE.2010.AccessedFebruary20,2011. IBM,VirtualizationinEducation.2007 IDC Research, Quantifying the business Value of VMware View.2009 ITS Desktop Virtualization (VDI): Frequently Asked Question. http://www.itd.umich.edu/virtualization/desktop/faq/. AccessedJune10,2011.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/Vmwareview45ds EN.pdf.AccessedJune3,2011 VMware.White paper. solving the Desktop Dilemma with UserCentric Desktop Virtualization for the enterprise. http://vmware.sharedvue.net/sharedvue/resources/white

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paper_Solving_Desktop_Dilemma.pdf.AccessedApril12, 2011. Willoughby, K.W. (2004). The Virtualization of universities Education: concepts, strategies and business Models, journal of applied Educational Technology. Volume 2, Number1.

Jordan SEKE MBOUNGOU MOUYABIwas born in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo on the 6th day of May 1982. He heldaBaccalaureateinMechanical Engineering awarded in 2000 from the Technical College Poaty Bernard of Pointe Noire in the Republic of Congo. He also received a Technician Patent in Mechanical Engineering from Thomas Sankara Technical Institute. He received an Engineering degree in Biomedical Maintenance from the Tertiary Institute of Applied Techniques of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2004 and his dissertation was titled The Establishment of Maintenance Policy in Hospitals of Developing Countries: Case of the Central HospitaloftheArmyPierreMobengoofBrazzaville.In2007, he was awardedwith a Diploma in Information Technology from Vaal Technology Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2008, he took Higher Diploma coursed in Computer Science at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg,SouthAfrica

HewasawardedwithacertificateinInformationTechnology project Manager in 2012 from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa and an undergraduate certificate in FundamentalsofprojectManagement from theUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg at the same year. Before joiningtheWitsSchoolofLawinJuly2008,heworkedasPC Engineer & Database Manager. He is currently a Constituent Relationship Management officer within the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg and visiting associateto the law school where he served as a Senior Local area network administrator. He has presented papers at conferences and his recent publication is Elearning and M learning, Africas search for a suitable concept in the era of cloud computing. Published in the volume of International Journal of Social and Human Sciences 6 2012. His research interests focuses on Africa and include Cloud computing, Virtualization, ELearning, MLearning, Digital Clash of Civilizationinthecontinent. Mr. Seke is a member of the South African Federation of HospitalEngineers(SAFHE)andanAssociatememberofthe Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA) as well as an Associate member of the Project management South Africa (PMSA).

VMwareview4.5andStatelessVirtualDesktops: http://www.entreprisemanagement.com
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