The next time students and staff using computers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) face a catastrophic PC failure, they will no longer have to deal with spending hours stuck on help-desk calls and waiting for on-site visits to get their problems fixed.
This is thanks to new ThinkLab PC center- a joint initiative by Lenovo and NUS. Situated at the NUS Computer Center, ThinkLab is equipped with some 100 Lenovo ThinkCenter A60 desktops which are powered by AMD processors and feature Lenovo’s ThinkVantage Technologies.
ThinkVantage is a suite of software tools aimed at increasing user uptime with easier maintenance and self-help features. It is designed to make PCs self-healing, self-managing, self-optimizing and self-protecting and addresses almost every issue that can become a “pain point” for users in personal computing. Some of the technologies in ThinkVantage include, Secure Data Disposal, System Update, System Migration Assistant, Active Protection System, Access Connections and Rescue and Recovery.
The NUS ThinkLab features two ThinkVantage capabilities in its desktops. The first one is the Rescue and Recovery tool that allows users to easily backup or recover important files, folders, directories and hard disks. This solution will enable the PCs at ThinkLab to recover from virus or software crashes, even if the primary operating system fails to boot as users can quickly access a set of self-recovery tools that help diagnose the problem and get the PC re-started.
With just a click of a button, the software solution creates an entirely new environment for system recovery with an entirely separate enhanced support operating system. Using this “pre-boot” environment, users can perform numerous tasks, even if the operating system has become corrupt.
Rescue and Recovery will empower PCs to self recover all types of files including pictures and MP3s. Recovery time is dependant on how much of data is in the system at the time of the crash. A typical rescue and recovery situation was demonstrated to guests and press at the launch of the ThinkLab center last week. Although the steps taken to execute a successful rescue and recovery situation seemed simple and straightforward enough, the time taken for the actual system to recover seemed to take awhile. The demonstration which showed the recovery of a PC with just an operating system corruption apparently takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
NUS believes that ThinkLab is a huge step forward as it will solve problems for both the users and the IT department. Users will be less dependant on the IT department to solve operational concerns and as a result IT will have to deal with fewer help desk calls and on-site visits, freeing both parties to focus on more important activities and subsequently improving user productivity and reducing cost.
“Its [Lenovo] innovation self-help features will decrease the need for on-site support- thus reducing total cost of ownership and enhancing user productivity. This is crucial especially for academic institution where our desktops PCs are located all over the campus,” said Tommy Hor, Director, Computer Centre.
Another ThinkVatange tool that will be featured in NUS ThinkLab desktops is the System Migration Assistant. This solution will make managing a fleet of ThinkCenter A60 desktops easier, quickly transferring user-specific data and settings from one desktop to another. Such a capability is seen as a core requirement for an environment such as ThinkLab where the PCs will be a common resource, shared amongst NUS students and staff.
“By continually making our desktops more reliable, easy to use and maintain, we hope to provide NUS the tools to increase student and staff productivity, as well as enhance the learning experience,” said Dion Weisler, vice president and general manager of Lenovo ASEAN.
Mr. Hor told SDA Asia that for every new Lenovo PC installed in ThinkLab, NUS looks to enjoy approximately SGD 700 in operational cost reduction, which translates to about 10- 20 percent in annual cost savings.
NUS plans to closely monitor the return on investment of ThinkLab and if deemed favorable there may be plans to open more around the campus.
Lenovos’ ThinkVantage technologies have been used by enterprises for many years now and NUS’s ThinkLab initiative is one of the new consumer areas that ThinkVantage is branching out to. |
