Customer Solution Case Study
College discovers smoothly running applications with Windows 7 Professional upgrade
Overview
Country or Region: India
Industry: Academic
Customer Profile
B V Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology is a prestigious landmark in the state of Karnataka, India. The institution is affiliated to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
Business Situation
This institution uses computers for educative purposes as well as for managing administrative activities. They run on Windows XP and Vista and use Windows Server 2003 to manage administrative data.
Solution
System administrators piloted Windows 7 in some of the computers and decided to upgrade the OS in all computers, as part of their routine upgrade, to Windows 7.
Benefits
n Easy implementation
n Better stability
n Better compatibility
n Better performance / “The Remote Desktop Connection feature of Windows 7 Professional encourages active learning by enabling the teachers to display a concept live instead of explaining it verbally.”
Dr. Ashok Shettar, Principal, BVBCET
BVB College of Engineering and Technology (BVBCET) was founded in 1947 in Hubli (Karnataka). The campus comprises various departments of engineering such as Computer Science, Information Science, Electronics and Communication, and so on, all of which use computers in the laboratories. The computers in the laboratories operate on Windows XP and Vista. The administrative department uses Windows Server 2003 to manage various types of data such as test scores, inventory, and so on. After an experimental utilization of Windows 7 Professional in some of the systems of the college, the system administrators have decided to completely upgrade to Windows 7 Professional.
Situation
BVB College of Engineering and Technology (BVBCET) is one of the oldest landmark institutions of Hubli (Karnataka) funded by the World Bank. This institution is affiliated to Visvesaraiah Technological University (Belgaum) and is recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). It is one of the twelve colleges in the state to enjoy academic autonomy for both under-graduate (UG) and post-graduate (PG) programs. The institution offers 12 UG and 7 PG programs in various disciplines. The institution also serves as a research center for doctoral studies in eight departments.
“It is easier for us to repair any problems that may come across while using the computers, because Windows 7 Professional saves us the trouble of hunting for the problem by directly pointing it out to us.”Parikshit Hegde | IT Head | BVBCET
The campus consists of up to 800 computers spread across various departments of engineering such as Computer Science, Information Science, Electronics and Communication, and so on, all of which use computers in the laboratories. The Computer Science and the Information Science departments, in particular, have 120 students and use 4 laboratories for their operation. Departments such as Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering use fewer computers in their laboratories, based on the requirement of the curriculum.
The computers in the laboratories operate on Windows XP and Vista. Based on the requirements of the curriculum, the computers are installed with Visual Studio 2005, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and .NET framework. The administrative department uses Windows Server 2003 to manage various types of data such as test scores, inventory, and so on. The system administrators decided to assess the advantages of Windows 7 Professional over the current operating systems in the campus, as a part of a routine upgrade process.
Solution
The system administrators in BVBCET decided to organize an upgrade process in the college campus and install Windows 7 Professional on the newer computers with 2 GB RAM. After a period of regular use, they were impressed with the performance of Windows 7 Professional, especially in terms of the boot up time – which was lesser – and multi-tasking abilities. They found Window 7 Professional to be compatible with the applications related to the students’ curriculum, such as AutoCAD and other demanding applications which are heavy on processing.
They decided to install Windows 7 Professional on the principal’s computer, which had just recently crashed. The system administrators and the principal were impressed with the overall performance of Windows 7 Professional, especially the stability of the OS.
Parikshit Hegde, the IT Head at the college opines, “It is easier for us to repair any problems that may come across while using the computers, because Windows 7 Professional saves us the trouble of hunting for the problem by directly pointing it out to us.”
Benefits
The customer benefited from the Windows 7 Professional upgrade in the following ways:
Easy implementation: It was not difficult for the college authorities to procure licenses to install Windows 7 Professional on the computers in the campus, especially because the college is associated with MSDN. The system administrators at the college found the Windows 7 Professional installation process straightforward enough to perform the upgrade process internally.
Better stability: Windows 7 Professional proved to possess better memory management capabilities, particularly when it came to running demanding applications that are often used in the Mechanical and Electronics Engineering departments. Windows 7 Professional was observed to make more efficient use of the system resources.
Better compatibility: Windows 7 Professional did not require any additional drivers to operate the printers, scanners, and any of the other specialized hardware used across the campus. The system administrators also did not require upgrading any specific hardware before upgrading to Windows 7 Professional. However, they will have to re-evaluate system configurations of some of their older systems before considering upgrading them.
Better performance: The system administrators found that Windows 7 Professional performed better than the previous OS on the 2 GB RAM when it came to boot-up time, along with smoother system response during the regular course of use.
Based on these benefits, the customer is planning to completely upgrade their desktop computing system to Windows 7 Professional by the end of this semester in 2011.
Windows 7
Faster and more reliable: Window 7 will help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to be more productive anyway. You will be able to support your mobile work force with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies to enhance corporate IT security, data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.
For more information about Windows 7, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7