Transforming IT to Address Today’s Challenges TASSCC TEC 2012 Transforming IT to Address Today’s Challenges Friday, March 30, 2012 James Webb, CIO @ WTAMU

West Texas A&M University Founded in 1910, West Texas A&M University is the northernmost senior institution of higher learning in Texas. Primary service region extends beyond the Texas borders into the neighboring states of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. The University offers 63 undergraduate degree programs, 41 master's programs and 1 doctoral program. Part of the Trans-Texas Videoconference Network (TTVN).

The Current Landscape of IT

The Future Landscape of IT

Today’s Challenge - Do More with Less @ WTAMU, the total IT budgetary reductions have been $772,000 since 2007. Student enrollment has increased by almost 20 percent since 2002. Larger class sizes and hiring freezes. Approximately 20,000 IT work orders per year. Demand for “Bring Your own Devices” or BYOD. Information Security Challenges. The bottom line is that the old ways of doing IT are simply not going to work in today’s world.

Transforming Information Technology The priority for IT @ WT has been to consolidate financial, operational, and technical resources to create a private cloud infrastructure, which provides the following benefits: Enables IT to keep up with the increased demand Improved security Cost-effective Flexible on demand services Standardized and unified services Reduced power consumption in the data center

Virtualization Enables Transformation

Doing More with Less

What do you see coming? “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” - Henry David Thoreau

Desktop Virtualization

IT’s about IT Service Delivery It’s clear to see by now that the cloud and virtualization technologies have significantly improved IT service delivery, which now includes the desktop environment.

Challenges of Desktop Virtualization Virtualization in the data center is, for the most part, transparent to the IT consumers, the end users. Desktop virtualization IS NOT transparent and is front and center to the IT consumer, the end users. A potential battlefield between IT and organizational departments over perceived loss of control and functionality. “Big brother” is monitoring everything I do. Thin client hardware is perceived as a downgrade.

Benefits of Desktop Virtualization Reduced the cost of PC replacement by 65 percent. Customized operating systems and applications Enhanced patch management processes. Increased migration speed to Windows 7. Reduced energy consumption by up to 85 percent. Desktop environment is available anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

Benefits of Desktop Virtualization Reduction in total work orders and man hours required to setup and install desktops individually. Streamlined disaster recovery efforts. Builds a stronger relationship between desktop services and network services. Can be used with Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) The desktop is now just another application that resides the network. Simplified management of the virtual environment.

Simplified Managemenet

Lessons Learned Getting the network and the data center right is the key to an effective and successful deployment. Understand the culture of your organization. Recognize that people have different needs at different times. Work with departments to determine who the standard users are and who the advanced power users are. Identify a technology champion in each department. Start with a pilot program and work with the technology champions. Setup a petting zoo so people can see it. Be involved and resolve problems quickly to control any potential negativity or bad press.

Don’t Be Afraid to Fail “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” - Thomas A. Edison

Shrinking The Desktop University Business Article Shrinking the Desktop – Virtualization is moving from the server room to the desktop. http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/shrinking-desktop jwebb@wtamu.edu