Supporting the Future of Now

The podium PC wouldn’t boot. A bustle of students flowed into the classroom as the professor furrowed her brow. She had only moments to resolve this before class began. IT support signage hung throughout the room. She dialed the number, and the Client Orchestration team answered. After a quick conversation, they found the solution, and class ensued.

Kyle Wright, the Engineering Technical Services (ETS) Client Orchestration Manager, smiled, “My team is well utilized. We support over 1,300 PCs for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Mostly in real-time. Add in the 25-miles between ASU’s Tempe and Polytechnic campuses; we’re always on.” He broke away for a new message, “And that’s fine by us.”

With Windows, Mac, and Linux OSs under control, the team focuses on their managed catalog of over 300 applications. Before the apps touch PCs, each has a patch check, testing, and prep for remote install.

Software is vital beyond Client Orchestration’s support for PC hardware and scientific instruments like scopes, signal generators, and programming boards. “Along with automation, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, Jamf Pro, and Red Hat Ansible are game-changers,” Kyle said. “That’s because we can touch all computers with a mouse click. That gives us the power of being everywhere at once.”

“We’re unique in this space.” he paused, “Although we support classrooms and labs, our core customer isn’t just the professor, but also students. If a student has an issue with a supported offering, we work the situation with similar urgency. That’s because each problem leads to a better solution. And our results, eventually, have university-wide adoption.”

At ASU, especially within the Fulton Schools, high-tech is at the cusp of education. ETS’ Client Orchestration team serves the future of engineering classrooms and labs today.