Name:
Cloud Application and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Upgrades
FiscalYear:
2014
Audience:
Science, College of
Submitter:
Hindle, Tobin
Budget Manager:
Blanchard, Dominique
Project Manager:
Hindle, Tobin K.
Dept. Chair:
Roberts, Charles E
Local IT:
N/A
Dean:
Ivy, Russell L.
Facilities:
N/A
OIT:
Bagdonas, Joseph A.
Year 1:
$ 22,452.28
Year 2:
$ 0.00
Year 3:
$ 0.00
Total:
$ 22,452.28
The cloud application server we are requesting is to replace
our two 5 year old cloud servers. These
old servers are now obsolete and unreliable Dell R410 servers with only 16GB
RAM, SATA drives and no GPUs. The replacement server will be a Dell R730
with 128 RAM, SSD drives and NVidia Grid based GPU. This new server will provide the processing
power, graphics ability and capacity we need to service our extensive eLearning
courses and planned new online degree programs. The old servers will be utilized as
backup/standby cloud servers for redundancy purposes.
The VDI server we are requesting will be an additional
server added to our current pool of four existing VDI servers. The need for the additional server is to
provide capacity for our planned update from 32-bit Windows 7 to 64-bit Windows
8.1 based VDIs. The move to 64-bit will
allow us to increase VDI performance as well as memory allocations above the 3GB limit of the 32-bit
OS. This increased performance and memory is required to
provide a high quality computing experience for students using large data sets and
multiple applications. The new server
will also be a Dell R730 with SSD drives but with 192GB RAM.
This proposal will help Geosciences meet all four Goals of
the FAU Strategic Plan:
Goal I: Enrich the educational experience: Geosciences has a highly technical and
specialized GIS curriculum. In order for
students to have a superior educational experience they need access to capable
computing resources, both on and off campus.
Goal II: Inspire
research, scholarship and creative activity : We have found that students working on
obsolete software, operating systems and slow computers easily get frustrated
and therefore do the minimum required.
However, students with access to high performance systems get excited
about their academic learning and research and will go above and beyond because
they are enjoying their learning experiences.
Goal IV: Leverage momentum toward achieving FAU’s
strategic goals by being good stewards of its human, technological, physical
and financial resources: To remain
at the forefront of education, we must keep pace with technology. It is clear that cloud based computing is
rapidly replacing the traditional desktop for several reasons. First and foremost is cloud computing allows for students to access specialized software from anywhere in the world with
Internet access. Secondly, it makes financial
sense in computer labs. VDI cost is
about $500-$600 per system versus $800-$1,200 for desktops. Maintenance and software upgrades on VDIs require a small fraction of time compared to desktops. Finally, VDIs are not tied to a physical
location so one pool of VDIs can be shared among multiple physical lab
locations.
| Fiscal Year 1 | Fiscal Year 2 | Fiscal Year 3 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware One-Time | $ 21,812.28 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 21,812.28 |
| Hardware Recurring | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Software One-time | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Software Recurring | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Personnel One-time | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Personnel Recurring | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Other One-time | $ 640.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 640.00 |
| Other Recurring | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 |
| Totals | $ 22,452.28 | $ 0.00 | $ 0.00 | $ 22,452.28 |
| Filename | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 730 cloud app.pdf | 65,096b | R730 Cloud app server |
| 730 VDI.pdf | 65,198b | R730 VDI Server |