ERIC Number: EJ824519
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Aug
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1082-5754
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Going on a Desktop Diet
St. Jean, Michael
Learning & Leading with Technology, v36 n1 p22-27 Aug 2008
With no specific state or federal mandates to districts to maintain comprehensive technology infrastructure, how do districts, in the face of mounting financial pressures, continue to build and maintain their networks, integrate their systems, and expand their resources in a way that is reasonably "budget-proof?" In this article, the author describes how Pawtucket, Rhode Island, an urban district of 16 schools with 9,000 students, has achieved this goal by buying and building terminal servers and converting their desktop computers into thin clients. Terminal servers are specialized servers that host applications and communicate remotely with multiple computers and other devices. Thin clients are specialized devices that exchange keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, and video with a terminal server. Together, a terminal server and thin client emulate a local computer and desktop experience for multiple users. Several lessons that the district learned along the way are discussed. (Contains 7 online resources.)
Descriptors: Computer Uses in Education, Educational Technology, Technology Integration, Urban Schools, School Districts, Computer Networks, Client Server Architecture, Workstations, Educational Finance, Access to Computers, Computer Software
International Society for Technology in Education. 480 Charnelton Street, Eugene, OR 97401-2626. Tel: 800-336-5191; Tel: 541-302-3777; Fax: 541-302-3778; e-mail: iste@iste.org; Web site: http://www.iste.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Rhode Island
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A