Study Group boosts education delivery with Wyse

Business extends refresh cycle to six years and cuts implementation time to five minutes

Sydney, Australia – 07/09/2009 -

Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin client computing, announced today that Australian-headquartered education provider Study Group has implemented Wyse thin client terminals to support courses that help students worldwide improve their English, learn a vocation, prepare for or undertake a university degree.

Study Group plans to install 700 Wyse V10L thin client terminals running Wyse ThinOS to support student learning across its Australian and New Zealand operations by the end of 2009, with deployment to its United States and United Kingdom operations to follow. As at June 2009, the organisation had deployed 470 terminals.

Study Group (www.studygroup.com) provides university access and English language programs to more than 50,000 students per year from 120 countries. The organisation runs a global network of specialist education counsellors and nearly 200 university partnerships across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Its 28 regional offices support more than 3,000 agents worldwide.

The organisation turned to Wyse to replace a 2,000-strong personal computer fleet that was ageing beyond the standard three-year replacement cycle and subject to increasing failure rates.

The Wyse terminals link to user desktop environments hosted in a virtualised infrastructure that runs across datacentres at campuses in several capital cities. “When the Wyse terminal is switched on and the user authenticated, the Wyse operating system retrieves the settings from the network and connects directly to the relevant virtual desktop,” said Craig Coleiro, IT Services Director, APAC, Study Group. “Once a user exits from their session, their data and settings are stored in the virtualised infrastructure. It all works seamlessly.”

This ensures students are given access to a standard operating environment comprising Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2003.

The organisation has been able to deploy the V10L terminals much more quickly and easily than its previous hardware. “For traditional personal computers, it took us 45 minutes each to complete the imaging and other processes required to allow a user to start work,” said Coleiro. “With Wyse, it now takes just five minutes from opening the box to getting the terminal running.”

The organisation is also expecting to reap considerable savings on its power bill thanks to the energy efficiency of the Wyse terminals. “We are finding the Wyse terminals run at around 14 watts per hour, as opposed to the 85 watts per hour consumed by traditional personal computers,” said Coleiro.

The smaller size of the Wyse terminals relative to a personal computer is freeing up desk space for students and Study Group plans to secure even more real estate by placing the terminals behind the screens on each desk.

The Wyse terminal component of the infrastructure will contribute to long-term savings in operating expenditure through lower administration and support costs and less downtime.

“We have been able to achieve 100 percent physical system uptime in the 12 months since we deployed Wyse,” said Coleiro. “We also expect to achieve capital expenditure reductions as the Wyse terminals should last at least two hardware refresh cycles, meaning we need to purchase new terminals in six years rather than three.”

“Study Group’s use of Wyse thin computing to lower costs, centralise and reduce management, accelerate deployment and cut risk shows the benefits that our technologies can deliver to organisations,” said Ward Nash, General Manager, APAC, Wyse Technology. “Their experience demonstrates the advantages that thin computing has over traditional personal computer-based environments. These advantages extend to ‘green’ benefits such as reduced cooling, quieter terminals and longer hardware replacement cycles.”

Media Contact:
Anna Soriano
+61 (0)409 315 012
asoriano@wyse.com

About Wyse Technology

Wyse is the #1 vendor the world's largest businesses and institutions trust for scalable thin-client computing solutions. Wyse provides the hardware, software, and services that shift computing complexity to the network, reducing cost, liberating IT departments from unnecessary support and maintenance functions, empowering users to be more productive in their jobs, and protecting and improving access to critical information and business applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California with offices worldwide, Wyse has been #1 in thin-client market share for the last eight years, enjoys a close partnership with Citrix Systems, and has been named Microsoft "Embedded Partner of the Year" for three years. Wyse customers include FedEx, Best Buy (Canada), Quaker Foods, and Gold's Gym.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE