The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), one of the country’s leading educational institutions, has adopted IBM SmartBusiness Desktop Cloud to enhance the learning experience of its students, through developing a visionary platform called UTCC Hybrid Learning System. This platform will help students access UTCC learning networking anytime, from anywhere, and using any device.
The system provides a more comprehensive and innovative wireless learning experience to the students, enabling them with quick access to online learning materials, which can be constantly updated and utilized in a secure manner.
The UTCC Hybrid Learning System platform will be built and run on IBM’s SmartBusiness Desktop Cloud and hardware solutions. UTCC realized that transitioning to a virtualized environment from traditional desktops can be a complex and time-consuming effort, often requiring specialized skills that are not readily available in-house.
UTCC turned to IBM to develop a common platform which ensures that the learning system can be accessed through all devices such as computers, tablets, and smart phones, among others. The platform provides improved flexibility and agility, as UTCC students can now use their own devices to get connected to the university’s systems, regardless of underlying technology platforms. The IBM SmartBusiness Desktop Cloud for desktop virtualization leveraged in this project, will enable devices to connect and run applications safely in the cloud environment, improving efficiency and lowering operational costs.
“With the advancement of wireless technologies and students becoming increasingly mobile, it is important that we create a flexible, learning environment that suits today’s needs. To achieve this transformation and to support the growing interest in business-oriented education, we are speeding up developments in several areas, from human resources and academic excellence, to educational infrastructure and technology. As part of our latest educational development efforts, we have implemented this UTCC Hybrid Learning 2.0 system to create a more digitalized learning community to establish ourselves as a leader in comprehensive e-learning,” said Professor Dr Saowanee Thairungroj, Dean of UTCC,
The new learning system will allow the university to quickly upgrade or add new applications to its central system, addressing the growing demand for updated information from students and staff. This will support UTCC’s vision towards expanding its reach and becoming one of Asia’s leading educational institutes, pioneering the growing need for business-oriented education in Thailand.
UTCC has adopted IBM’s System x servers to centrally run the Hybrid Learning, which allows the university to have a flexible infrastructure with simplified management, easy and rapid deployment, and the ability to manage growing workloads when the business needs it. It will also help reduce the university IT administrators’ workload caused by the time-consuming need to serve individual users, by leveraging the servers as a medium to distribute quick updates, with greater speed and convenience.
Mr Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Country Manager, Global Technology Services IBM Thailand Co., Ltd., said, “We believe the combined strength of UTCC and IBM is going to benefit students enormously. The ability to leverage UTCC’s world-class learning systems any time and through any devices gives students a unique learning experience. We are excited to work with UTCC in their endeavor of expanding and enriching the learning ecosystem in the country.”