IBM Prepares Educational Resources for NC Students

IBM (News - Alert) has stated that through Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) technology students in North Carolina will soon get access to advanced educational resources.

 

The company reported that through this cloud – a set of Internet computing resources – students at K-12 schools all the way to community colleges and the University of North Carolina system campuses across the state will have access to the most advanced educational computational materials, select software applications and computing and storage resources.

 

The Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) is a remote access service that allows users to reserve a computer with a desired set of applications for themselves, and remotely access it over the Internet. To VCL users, even the most demanding software applications, operating systems and environments are easily accessible through license-honoring technology.

 

Apache Open source community has got the approval of the NC state for developing the codes required for the virtual lab. The state is also in negotiation with other universities on replicating this cloud computing model.

 

According to reports, development of The Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) started in 2004 as a joint venture of the College of Engineering (COE) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) to efficiently use hardware investments and to provide remote access to a wide range of advanced compute requirements by NCSU students, faculty, and researchers.

 

“NC State and IBM are inviting universities worldwide to participate in the Virtual Computing Initiative,” said Jai Menon, vice president of IBM University Programs and vice chair of the IBM Academy of Technology. “Through this collaboration, universities which participate in this program have a tremendous opportunity to not only further enable their own students, but to also improve the lives of students in economically disadvantaged parts of the country and the world. The VCL technology is a conduit that can greatly enhance students’ education, self confidence and overall quality of life.”

 

Some analysts say institutions can save equipment costs and reduce 20 to 30 percent in manpower costs by switching to VCL. Maintenance of systems is not required in VCL and so professionals dedicated to maintenance can now work on more productive things. Universities can divert the funds saved by this to support faculty and student needs.

 

Officials say that using VCL, University and community college students can access high-end applications such as SolidWorks, MatLab and SAS (News - Alert), as well as complex networking simulators, mainframe computing facilities running IBM System z, and specialized IBM’s cell microprocessors to learn, for example, about Service Oriented Architectures and IT Management.

 

The IBM WebSphere Technology Institute assisted NC State in launching the VCL Apache incubator project. Through support from Research Triangle Park (RTP) Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) and the Academic Initiative, it is claimed that the VCL will allow North Carolina faculty to create and deliver advanced educational material in support of programs that are preparing their students for the 21st century workforce.