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Meet Gateway Technical College, a leader in hands-on technical education, established in 1911 as America’s first publicly funded technical college. Serving southeastern Wisconsin, Gateway prepares over 21,000 students annually through more than 70 associate degree and technical diploma programs.

This customer story explores Gateway’s transformation in delivering a high-performance virtual desktop environment in partnership with V2 Cloud. 

Facing mounting challenges with their on-premise VDI solution, Gateway needed a scalable and cost-effective solution to support their hybrid classrooms and growing student demands.

The result? A smooth migration to V2 Cloud’s Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solution that not only enhanced system performance and stability but also dramatically reduced costs and simplified IT management. With V2 Cloud, Gateway now offers a more reliable and flexible learning experience for students and staff, allowing their IT team to focus on strategic initiatives.

The Challenge: Overcoming VDI Limitations

Gateway Technical College faced significant challenges with its on-premise Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) that hindered the college’s ability to deliver a seamless learning experience. 

As a public institution with thousands of students and staff, Gateway required a robust, scalable solution to support their hybrid learning model.

Gateway’s critical challenges included:

• Labor-Intensive Maintenance: The existing VMware VDI solution was cumbersome to manage, with daily user issues that required frequent resets and reboots.
• Feature Gaps: Key features, such as audio and video services, were either not delivered or weren’t production-ready, limiting Gateway’s ability to provide a fully functional virtual classroom environment.
• Runaway Costs: VMware’s licensing and support renewal costs surged to five times the original quoted amount, straining Gateway’s budget.
• Staffing Shortages: With an understaffed IT department, Gateway needed a virtual desktop solution that could be managed by a lean team, without the need for additional hires.
• Growing Performance Demands: As students enrolled in more courses, Gateway needed a system that could deliver better performance and more stable technology to meet increasing demands.

In short, Gateway needed a scalable, reliable, and cost-effective virtual desktop solution that could support their hybrid instruction model, reduce IT workload, enhance system performance, and align with their budget constraints.

The Solution: Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

To address Gateway Technical College’s challenges with their existing VMware VDI solution, they needed a cloud partner capable of delivering a scalable, reliable, and easy-to-manage virtual desktop environment that could meet the demands of their hybrid instruction model.

Finding the Right Partner

After evaluating six different solution providers, Gateway selected V2 Cloud for several compelling reasons:

• Ease of Use: V2 Cloud’s Desktop as a Service (DaaS) offering provided a streamlined, browser-based solution that eliminated the need for complex software installations or VPN configurations. This improved the user experience for both students and staff.
• Scalability and Flexibility: V2 Cloud’s cloud infrastructure was designed to scale effortlessly, allowing Gateway to expand its virtual desktop environment without requiring additional IT resources or capital expenditures.
• Cost-Effective Pricing: V2 Cloud’s transparent flat-rate pricing model offered significant cost savings compared to VMware, helping Gateway stay within their budget while achieving their goals.
• Comprehensive Support: With V2 Cloud, Gateway received proactive support, real-time monitoring, and daily backups, ensuring the system remained stable and reliable.

Implementation

To meet Gateway’s needs, V2 Cloud’s solution was implemented through several key steps:

• Centralized Management: Gateway’s IT team was able to manage and deploy all virtual desktops from a single server, simplifying operations and reducing the need for daily hands-on maintenance.
• Browser-Based Access: V2 Cloud’s solution allowed students and staff to access their virtual desktops through a web browser, eliminating the need for additional software installations and reducing the strain on IT support.
• Support for Hybrid Learning: V2 Cloud’s DaaS provided the flexibility to accommodate hybrid instruction, ensuring that students and faculty could access critical educational resources from any location, on any device.
• High Availability and Security: With built-in daily backups and live monitoring, V2 Cloud ensured that Gateway’s virtual desktop environment remained secure and consistently available, minimizing downtime and data loss.

Key Achievements

• Ease of Management: With V2 Cloud, Gateway’s IT team can now manage all virtual desktops from a central location, reducing the need for frequent hands-on maintenance. This has freed up IT staff for other critical tasks.
• Cost Reduction: Transitioning to V2 Cloud allowed Gateway to significantly cut its virtualization and infrastructure expenses. The shift also enabled them to avoid the runaway costs associated with VMware.
• Budget Predictability: V2 Cloud’s flat-rate pricing gave Gateway greater control over budgeting, correlating student and staff workload with accurate financial forecasting.
• Improved Performance and Stability: V2 Cloud’s high availability and consistent performance provided the reliability needed for Gateway’s part-time and adult learners who required flexible, on-demand access to their educational resources.
• Enhanced Student Experience: Student onboarding became smoother, and support tickets dropped by 10x, indicating fewer issues and a better user experience.

Why Gateway Chose V2 Cloud

Gateway Technical College chose V2 Cloud because it delivered a more reliable, scalable, and cost-effective solution compared to their previous VMware setup. With V2 Cloud, Gateway was able to:

• Scale the virtual desktop environment across campus without additional IT staff.
• Offer students and staff a more stable and responsive platform.
• Simplify IT management, allowing the team to focus on more strategic initiatives.

As CIO Jeff Robshaw noted, “V2 Cloud has exceeded our expectations from the very start.”

This transition not only improved the overall educational experience but also positioned Gateway as a leader in delivering flexible, high-performance education in the face of evolving demands.

How Educational Institutions Can Succeed Like Gateway

Educational institutions today face a unique set of challenges, from managing hybrid classrooms to providing secure, high-performance virtual learning environments. 

To stay competitive and deliver a seamless experience for students and staff, institutions need a cloud solution that is scalable, reliable, and cost-effective. Gateway Technical College’s success with 

V2 Cloud serves as a prime example of how institutions can streamline IT operations, reduce costs, and improve overall performance with the right technology partner.

Ready to transform your educational institution?

V2 Cloud can help your institution achieve the same success as Gateway Technical College. 

Book a demo today and discover how our Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solution can streamline your IT operations, improve performance, and reduce costs. Let V2 Cloud become your partner in delivering a superior educational experience.