A C e n t e r f o r d i g i ta l e d u ca t i o n h i g h e r e d u ca t i o n T h o u g h t L e a d e r s h i p pa p e r

Education goes virtual

application streaming project

City University of New York pilots
 Connectivity and mobility are drastically changing the
world, leaving no aspect of our lives untouched. The dynam-
ics of higher education are no exception as we’ve watched
the traditional student transform: Students don’t just sit
in classrooms anymore; they “attend” lectures via podcast
and take courses online. They use laptops to research, write
papers, stay connected and learn about the world. To thrive
as learners, workers and volunteers, students need remote
access to the technological resources they would receive on
campus while they’re at home, on the job or at the local
coffee shop.
The pervasive use of technology in our daily lives cre-
ates an expectation for applying remote access tools to educa-
tional facilities and learning. Rising fuel and commuting costs
necessitate more efficient use of our technical tools. Difficult
financial times make it incumbent upon colleges and univer-
sities to continue to provide students with the best education
possible, while minimizing the impact on their budgets and
the environment. The City University of New York (CUNY),
home to accomlished academic achievers, national award
winners and a diverse student population, is using a tool to
meet these requirements and continue its tradition of high
quality education: virtual application streaming.
Education on a wide scale
Virtual application streaming provides managed access
to sophisticated and often costly proprietary academic soft-
ware applications, enabling use on and off the network. It
allows for use of the same tools on students’ laptops that
they access in a computer lab on campus. And since users
work from their own devices, CUNY isn’t burdened with
building servers to run the applications.
In size and complexity — nearly a half million degree
and continuing education students on 23 campuses across
New York City — CUNY is without question a most
demanding environment to pilot virtual application stream-
ing. Serving so many people with individualized priorities,
goals and educational and scheduling needs is a tall task,
according to Brian Cohen, CUNY’s CIO and associate vice
chancellor for technology.
Virtual Application
Streaming 101
At the City University of New York (CUNY),
143 students and six faculty members are tak-
ing part in a virtual application streaming pilot
— as of September 2008, they can access cam-
pus software instantaneously from anywhere via
the Internet.
After streaming the application to their com-
puters the first time, users run the software as if
it’s installed directly to their devices — both online
and offline. At the same time, CUNY’s streamed
applications maintain a management link to its
server, with the ability to update each user’s ver-
sion of the software and recall it when the user no
longer requires access to the application.
Seeking to provide students greater access to applica-
tions in a managed fashion, Cohen proposed the univer-
sity pilot the use of virtual application streaming. Testing
the new technology required CUNY administrators to fully
comprehend IT and user requirements. At a minimum, the
technology had to provide the following:
• excellent user experience;
• low-cost technology for the university and for students;
• reduction in power consumption;
• minimal investment from IT personnel; and
• a secure environment.
After examining IT, student and faculty needs, it was
clear that busy schedules required a technology with maxi-
mum flexibility, allowing students to integrate study into
their daily activities. Virtual application streaming enables
remote access to school licensed software from individually
owned devices. Applications run on the users’ PC processor,
memory and graphics, making the user experience identical
to locally installed software, even when it is computer- or
graphics-intensive.
“About 95 percent of our students have a PC at home or
at work, most with access to broadband Internet services,”
Cohen said. “They have the tools they need to utilize more
technology. So our goal is to give them more opportunities
to use those tools. Virtual application streaming reduces a
student’s need to use our campus labs.”
Fits like a glove
In September 2008, CUNY introduced the Virtual More Technology,
Application Streaming Pilot Project to 143 students and Fewer Resources
six faculty members, allowing them access to campus soft-
CUNY’s campuses employ several hundred
ware from anywhere — instantaneously — via the Internet. IT personnel; by itself, the central IT organization
Without this technology, students faced either purchasing consists of more than 100 individuals. But because
an expensive application for installation on a personal com- the Virtual Application Streaming Pilot Project
puter or commuting to campus and utilizing a university requires so few IT resources — approximately
computer with the software already installed. In the pilot one dedicated person and six others providing
part-time assistance — and few dollars to keep
project, CUNY provided multi-user software licenses, mak-
it up and running, CUNY IT staff won’t be spread
ing the streamed applications free to students and faculty for too thin, nor will other program cuts be made to
the duration of a course. accommodate.
James Haggard, CUNY’s deputy CIO for Strategic Ini- “We would have some incremental staff
tiatives, is pleased with the results of this pilot and defines growth,” said James Haggard, CUNY’s deputy
success as minimizing and/or removing barriers to ensure CIO for Strategic Initiatives. “But we’d do it as
we grew. We run pretty lean.”
successful student outcomes.
Instead of having IT employees spend time
“We met our objective of making tools available online updating and maintaining CUNY machines, appli-
using remote access,” he said. “The student derives the same cation streaming will reduce hardware issues. If
access to information as if he or she were sitting on campus.” students have problems with the streaming appli-
Cohen added that there have been few, if any, calls to cation, they can call the IT department’s help desk,
the IT Help Desk, and the experience has been positive for and personnel can troubleshoot accordingly. This
will lower CUNY’s operating costs by focusing
students, faculty and IT staff — with no difference between
IT concerns on the streaming technology — and
locally installed and streamed software. away from campus hardware.
Moreover, virtual application streaming technology
offers financial benefits to the university because it reduces
the need for additional hardware investment. Unlike server-
based computing, application streaming uses the computing
power of the user’s computer. It is not necessary for CUNY
to purchase new servers to run the students’ applications.
The virtualized software also separates the application from
the user’s operating system, eliminating software conflicts.
CUNY is dedicated to promoting sustainability, and
virtual application streaming will assist the institution in
reducing its carbon footprint. With this tool, the university
uses students’ computing power, reducing the need for extra
hardware investment. Also, students require fewer trips to
campus, resulting in less driving time.

Education Goes Virtual: City University of New York pilots application streaming project | 
Learning via stream
The technology has two components: application virtu-
alization and application streaming. Using the virtualization
piece, CUNY can run applications on remote computers
abstracted from the user’s operating system, away from the
troublesome registry and system files. Because the software
is delivered in a wrapper — a type of virtualization that
maintains a management link back to the streaming server
— CUNY collectively updates each user’s version of the
software, is less concerned about unexpected problems on
the user’s computer and can recall the software when the
user has completed a course.
Security Concerns
Whether it’s e-mail, an online database or a Web
site, information delivered via the Internet is prone to
security breaches.
Because CUNY has past experience with deploy-
ing enterprise applications, it ensured the proper
security protocols were in place. After making certain
that safety measures aligned with the university’s
current Web-access control system and that the new
infrastructure was secure, CUNY received a stamp of
approval from the chief university security officer.
As an added security measure, the university uses
a secure socket layer (SSL) and encryption over the
application, providing user IDs and passwords to the
pilot participants. With careful planning, CUNY has
deployed streaming technology and complied with the
university’s rigorous security standards.
On first launch, it can take longer to start the
streamed application compared to the local hard drive,
but inconveniences are compensated for by the easy
manageability and minimal installation process.
“After you’ve done that first launch of any appli-
cation, it’s as if it’s on your machine,” Haggard said.
“The streaming technology makes that first time per-
formance seem pretty quick. It’s actually much faster
than if you take out the CD and start installing the
application.”
By streaming applications to remote comput-
ers, CUNY is leveling the playing field between cam-
pus-based and online courses for application access.
Although the pilot is working specifically with the Online
Baccalaureate program, future use of the technology
could extend to students taking classroom courses
— granting them access to campus-based applications
from home or other locations.
The streaming component is what delivers the software.
After users log in to a Web site, they view a list of applica-
tions to which they have access and click an icon. Then, the
“wrapped” application is delivered to the user’s system and
runs as if the program is on their computer.
Haggard said that when he streamed the application to
his computer, it took about 35-40 seconds to launch and
present its first screen. The program begins executing as
soon as the stream hits the laptop, and users do not have to
wait for the entire multiple-gigabyte application to arrive.
Students use the software as if it’s downloaded directly to
their devices. As the program streams in, it caches on the com-
puter, making subsequent launches identical to the performance
of having the program installed on the operating system.
Similar Technologies
With so many efficient and positive features to
virtual application streaming, do other technologies
stand a chance?
“We did, with the help of Intel, identify a couple of
alternatives that would be feasible to meet what we
saw as our pilot objects,” Haggard said. “There are
other vendor solutions that can do parts of it — either
virtualization or streaming — and you can put them
together.”
CUNY could have implemented a server-based
model, which also would have given students access
to software remotely. However, the application is only
enabled while using a Web browser, requiring users to
have a constant network connection to use the software
— this fails to meet the demands of on-the-go CUNY
students. Comparatively, virtual application streaming
will cache on users’ computers, allowing them to use
the program offline.
The Virtual Hosted Desktop (VDI) option would
allow students and faculty to access campus desktops
and software from remote locations, but places a sub-
stantial load on the server. The VDI alternative would
have required a large initial capital outlay and ongoing
overhead cost for CUNY to maintain.
“Virtual application streaming was the one that
seemed to meet both of our virtualization and stream-
ing requirements in one bundle,” Haggard said. “Today,
there aren’t too many players that can do the virtualiza-
tion and streaming together on a single platform; that
was really appealing for us in terms of less integration
work to do — it’s already a packaged product.”

Managing software licensing
In today’s economy, managing cost is a high priority for
universities. A technology that uses students’ computing
power instead of additional university hardware is a sound
investment. However, after IT departments eliminate hard-
ware costs, how can universities ebb the cost of delivering
software to hundreds of students and faculty members?
“It’s become harder to license products,” Cohen said.
“The software vendor model is extremely expensive, and,
quite frankly, it’s an impossible model for higher education
to sustain.”
Many software vendors don’t allow home usage of uni-
versities’ products, nor do they allow concurrent use of one
license, while some vendors require one license for every
device, making software an expensive venture. One of the
advantages of a large university, however, is it can negotiate
with vendors for shared network licenses and concurrent-
user models, Haggard said.
“Most vendors in software have special programs in
place for education,” he said. “I don’t anticipate that being
an acrimonious discussion, but it’s going to be work just
because you have to deal with each vendor individually.”
For the Virtual Application Streaming Pilot Project,
CUNY is using SPSS, a statistical analysis software that
came bundled with a textbook for a related course. Typi-
cally, CUNY needs to arrange a license agreement with
the software vendor for the students in the course to use
the application via stream. However, since SPSS was pur-
chased with the course textbook, it was convenient for the
pilot because the university was able to test the technology
without obtaining a CUNY license.
Education Goes Virtual: City University of New York pilots application streaming project | 
Measuring success by experience
At the end of the semester, pilot participants will provide
the university with feedback from their application stream-
ing experiences. CUNY expects to add more students,
faculty and applications to future phases of the project
— including programs such as Mathematica, a mathemati-
cal modeling application, and Dreamweaver, a tool used for
Web site graphic design.
“Success is measured by the perspectives of the students
and faculty,” Cohen said. “Our goal is to improve access to
instructional applications and provide a positive experience.”
By providing virtual application streaming, CUNY is
offering improved curricular access, which gives students
more options for a successful educational career. Whether a
student lives an hour from campus — and needs this tech-
nology for convenience — or a student walks to class — and
streams the software to a laptop during lecture — virtual
application streaming provides a level of service that fits the
needs of the traditional and nontraditional student.
“Many of our students are first-generation college stu-
dents,” Haggard said. “They are people who have enor-
mous demands outside of the university. Many of them are
raising families and have jobs. So if we can in some way
help make it easier for them to do their course work while
they’re balancing all those other competing life needs, then
that’s a success too.”
A virtual future
As the demand for distance learning increases, virtual
application streaming will be a necessity for universities,
particularly commuter campuses like CUNY.
“This is a technology that helps as we’re moving toward
more virtual components in many of our classes,” Haggard
said. “It allows us to focus our campus resources on enhanc-
ing or optimizing our technology goals for students, faculty
and staff.”
CUNY, dedicated to providing opportunities for suc-
cessful student outcomes, is emerging as a technological
leader by adopting cutting-edge tools while promising for
a better tomorrow.
“Always think outside the box,” Cohen said. “There are
lots of things that can be done better. Intel and the partners
that they’ve brought to this particular project are phenom-
enal. They really did open up our eyes and give us a great
opportunity to improve the service that we deliver.”
p a p e r
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