Located in Patna, Bihar, the Centre of Excellence (CoE) is a public-private partnership initiative intended to support the training and capacity building needs of the state’s youth. Because the first two groups of Bihar government officials were ready to undergo training, CoE sought a quick-to-deploy computing solution that was both affordable and energy-efficient, and required less space. The effort led to the establishment of the region’s most eco-friendly training facility.

The greenest NComputing setup in eastern India

CoE (www.coe.co.in) is the Bihar government’s ICT knowledge and technology infrastructure partner, established to promote ICT literacy among the youth of Bihar to enhance their employability skills and to support the training needs of the state’s government employees. CoE has signed a memorandum of understanding to partner with the government of Bihar for a five-year period, to create an IT infrastructure that will facilitate programs and modules related to English communication, soft skills, and interpersonal skills.

Sustainable technology that fit the need like a glove

The first two groups of government officials, from two departments of the Bihar Education Project Council and the Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development, were ready to undergo training, but there was no infrastructure available for the training sessions. CoE needed a cost-effective and energy-efficient solution to set up the IT labs; in addition to 100 desktops, other supporting infrastructure—UPS, software, antivirus protection, and so on—was also required within just 14 days. There was also a space limitation. But the greatest challenge was energy usage, because Bihar has a serious power shortage and is dependent on other states for all its energy needs.

CoE chose NComputing’s desktop virtualization solution for its optimal combination of price and performance. NComputing set up two labs serving 30 users, each on the L-series virtual desktop, and another four labs serving 10 users, each on the X-Series virtual desktop. The entire network was set up on the existing single local area network (LAN). With NComputing, 100 users were connected on a single LAN with no compromise in performance.

Because NComputing allows organizations to run multiple workstations off a single computer or server, they can save up to 50 percent on hardware cost, up to 75 percent on maintenance cost and up to 90 percent on energy use. And as NComputing units consume just 1 watt of electricity—compared with 120–150 watts with traditional computers—CoE is consuming minimal electricity, which not only delivers big cost savings but also helps the environment.

The rewards of going green

With the state’s electricity challenges in mind, hybrid energy sources (solar plus wind) were used. And by reducing the number of desktops, air conditioning requirements were also reduced. In acknowledgment for being the greenest NComputing setup in Eastern India so far, CoE received the Go Green innovation award from NComputing in 2011. The Go Green award recognizes companies that have demonstrated leadership by using information technology solutions that support sustainable initiatives. (For more information, see http://www.ncomputing.com/gogreenaward)

A smart choice that saved money, time, and energy

According to P.K.Sinha, CEO, Centre of Excellence and Director, Astric Computers, “NComputing’s innovative solution gave us the best value for money, with huge savings and a reduced TCO. The flexibility and the ease of use with any operating system made the solution convenient to deploy and use, and the minimal space required to set up the lab has led to substantial space savings for us.”

He added, “Our biggest challenge was setting up our lab on time. We are thankful to the NComputing team for their excellent solution and support that gave us the early mover advantage. The fast deployment—followed by cost benefit, zero downtime, the openness of use with any operating system, and optimum space utilization—made this one of the best services we have received to date.”

The first pilot lab setup for 100 users was installed within 9 days. Subsequently, this was doubled to accommodate 200 users, with video surveillance, biometric entry/exit, and similar extension centers in 18 districts of Bihar. This additional infrastructure was essential for CoE to cater to the ever-growing training needs of state government employees.