Benefits, Limitations and Costs of IT Infrastructure Virtualization in the Academic Environment. Case Study using VDI Technology

摘要

The article describes the economic, organisational and technological reasons for implementing VDI solutions (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) in the learning centers of academic institutions. It presents also major disadvantages, limitations and challenges of this technology. The comparison of total costs of previous solution (PC) and VDI technology has been also discussed. In addition to the benefits, limitations and costs analysis, a case study of the implementation of a model solution at the Wroclaw University of Economics was presented, which includes almost 400 zero client terminals and over 500 virtualised systems available to students in 12 laboratories. The authors were the originators of the concept of VDI implementation at this University and leaders of the project team. The article also presents selected experiences from project implementation and comments, the discussion of which may be crucial for the successful implementation of presented solutions.