Beech Grove City Schools, in Indiana, had a problem with its IT system. Although it delivered the basic educational and administrative support, the cost in maintenance was steep: a staff of seven full-time people was required just to maintain the system. This left no resources available for improving the system or to provide curriculum learning applications.
Beech Grove City Schools’ director of technology, Teresa Kratzer, assembled a team of 35 staff and created a plan for not only fixing these problems but doing so on a tight budget. Together with Integrity Network Solutions of Indianapolis, the team mapped out a new system with servers consolidated into one data center, faster point-to-point network connections, and thin clients from Wyse Technology.
Already the district is saving $200,000 a year because it can have one person maintaining 1,000 desktops as opposed to one person maintaining 200 desktops. Beach Grove expects additional energy savings because, at 12 watts, a thin client uses a fraction of the energy of a PC. Kratzer estimates $30,000 a year in energy savings alone.
