Desktop virtualization is saving schools much-needed money.

Why buy new computers, when you can hook up a simple device to a monitor and create the same experience through desktop virtualization–while potentially saving thousands of dollars on hardware, energy bills, and tech support? That’s the question that is driving the enormous growth in virtualization among schools across the United States and worldwide.

School IT directors who have tried virtualization say most users can’t tell the difference when they’re working on a virtual desktop instead of a regular PC.

The Wantagh Union Free School District on Long Island, N.Y., adopted a desktop virtualization model when confronted with the prospect of having to replace aging computers in its elementary school classrooms. “We had 10-year-old Dells and were really due for a refresh,” says Technology Director Don Murphy.

Instead of buying new PCs, the district purchased X series devices from NComputing Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. Wantagh elementary schools typically have five computers per classroom. With desktop virtualization, Murphy only had to purchase new PCs for teachers. Students use a monitor, keyboard, and mouse–along with the X550 device–to share computing power from the teacher’s PC.

“This was the most seamless way to move to a virtual experience,” Murphy says.  “We didn’t have to invest in servers. And with the energy savings, the project will pay for itself in a few years.”

NComputing Chairman and CEO Stephen Dukker calls the company’s ability to provide low-cost computing power to schools “one of those inflexion points in education, comparable to the time in the 1980s when PCs were gaining ground.”

NComputing’s products are based on the fact that today’s computers are so powerful, most applications use only a fraction of a PC’s capacity. NComputing taps into that unused capacity by enabling up to 30 users to take advantage of a PC’s computing power for as little as $70 per additional user. (That doesn’t include the cost of a monitor and keyboard.)

According to NComputing, districts that switch to its desktop virtualization products can save up to 70 percent on hardware, 75 percent on maintenance, and 90 percent on energy costs when compared with a traditional technology rollout.

Worldwide growth in virtualization

Those benefits are fueling enormous growth in desktop virtualization. Dan Griggs, an analyst with CDW-G, says predictions for sales growth range from 8 to 10 percent for 2010.

Dave Podwojski, director of government, education, and health care for Citrix Systems Inc., estimates desktop virtualization is a $23 billion industry worldwide, which includes all customers, not just the education market. “Desktop virtualization is growing dramatically,” he says. “It’s really becoming the way almost everyone is using computers.” He says Citrix has sold its products to more than 400 school districts in the United States.

NComputing’s share of the K-12 market has more than doubled in a year, from 7 percent in 2008 to 15 percent last year, says Dukker. “We’re about to cross over into having 1 million workstations in U.S. public schools,” Dukker says. For a company that started shipping desktop devices to the education market in 2006, “this is quite a remarkable success rate.”

But U.S. sales make up less than half of the company’s sales figures. NComputing has sold more than 2 million units in 140 countries, reaching 10 million students. While computers were introduced into U.S. schools long before the schools had internet access, in the developing world, it’s all happening concurrently, Dukker says.