Until not long ago, Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh was grappling with acute issues related to its outdated IT infrastructure. The institution put all this behind by overhauling its entire legacy set up and going green with NComputing’s desktop virtualization solution.

The sprawling campus of Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh (ACB) is situated in the heart of the industrial township of Ballabgarh, NCR (National Capital Region), India and currently provides higher education to over 5000 students. The institution was founded in 1971 with the sole mission to make quality higher education accessible to students of rural areas in the region in the most affordable manner. The college is being managed by a progressive parent body named Aggarwal Vidya Pracharni Sabha (Regd)/AVPS, headed by Lala Rattan Singh Gupta, Chairman, AVPS and President, Governing Body, Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh.

Since inception, the college has been consistently striving to prepare students for the future by equipping them with the skills required to thrive in the global economy and succeed in their professional careers. “The faculty and management put in all the required efforts to achieve this vision where students can pride themselves for being a product of this institute and cherish it lifelong,” said Dr Krishan Kant Gupta, Principal, Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh.

Good riddance to dated infrastructure

The legacy IT infrastructure of the college was dated was dated and required overhauling. The computer labs were equipped with traditional desktop systems with CRT monitors, which consumed a lot of power and required maintenance and support on a regular basis. Besides, the number of computers in the college labs was insufficient to provide independent access and adequate lab time to students. Hence, the management decided to upgrade the college’s computing infrastructure so that the students pursuing higher education courses are provided with the best learning experience through ICT.

After a careful evaluation of various thin client solutions, the college zeroed in on NComputing’s shared computing technology and approached NextGen Computers, an NComputing implementation partner, to deploy NComputing labs in the college.

“After making an elaborate analysis of the college’s requirements, we suggested the management team to deploy a mix of L-series and X-series thin client access devices on NComputing’s vSpace virtualization platform. The deployment was done in a phased manner so that the college is able to simultaneously assess the value delivered by the solution as they go along. Since the solution met with the requirements and expectations of the college, the management decided to replace its entire legacy set up with NComputing’s desktop virtualization solution. Over 260 NComputing virtual desktops have already been deployed in the various labs and offices of the college. Deployment in four more labs is in the pipeline,” said Amit Singhla, CEO, NextGen Computers.

A change that’s rendering multiple benefits

Dr Gupta informed: “It’s been over two years now that we are using NComputing in the college labs, libraries and administrative set up. After deploying NComputing in three labs, we did a thorough analysis and realized that we would have spent INR 900 thousand more if we had gone for the traditional all-PC set up. Power consumption of all six labs has reduced by 90 percent. We have completely forgotten issues such as hard disk crashes, hardware obsolescence and virus threats. What’s more, our IT head is virtually free now from lab support and maintenance tasks as NComputing labs are virtually maintenance free.”

NComputing enables an interactive learning environment

There has been a huge change in the teaching-learning environment in the college. Dr Gupta elaborated: “The labs are equipped with LCD monitors, connected to the host PC. The teacher instructs through the host PC and students view the content on their desktop as well as the LCD monitor. Each student has access to an independent desktop. The new NComputing labs have made the process of imparting education a lot more interactive, illustrative and simplified. We have even replaced the traditional analogue language lab with a 40 seat state-of-the art NComputing language lab, which is helping our students to sharpen their communication skills.”

Supporting the go-green drive

One of the key reasons of deploying NComputing in the college was to turn the campus green by adopting an environment-friendly and energy-efficient computing solution. The college took this initiative based on the advice of Mr Devender Gupta, Senior Member, Executive Committee, Governing Body of Aggarwal College, Ballabgarh. “Ever since we have chosen NComputing’s revolutionary solution for our campus, we have become the talk of the town. Teams from various educational institutions from in and around the city frequently visit our college to see our low-cost and energy-efficient labs. The sea change that NComputing has brought into our teaching-learning process has been the most significant gain from this deployment,” concluded Dr Gupta.