New computer software at NICC will give students greater mobility

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure technology now in use at NICC Calmar will improve mobility for staff and students while creating more efficient, cost-effective processes for the school's network administrators.

"The mobility and technology we are introducing address the needs of our students, who more frequently expect this capability of their colleges," says NICC vice president of finance and administration John Noel.

The technological improvement will also benefit NICC staff who serve students who are off-campus. "VDI creates greater mobility for our staff members by removing the desktop computer model; this allows staff to work wirelessly, anywhere, by using a laptop," says NICC Interim Computer Information Systems Director Craig Meirick.

With VDI technology, data is not stored on the computer or smart phone or tablet, but in the system.  "Mobility is one of the largest advantages to VDI and our technology master plan," said Meirick.

Because no data is saved to the user's device, if that device is lost, there is much less chance that any critical data can be retrieved and compromised.  The new technology also makes restoring files to a device much more straightforward and simple, because they will be present at login from another device.