The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

July 28, 2010

Board of Education to upgrade labs

Raleigh County

By Sarah Plummer Register-Herald Reporter

BECKLEY — The Raleigh County Board of Education discussed its plans Tuesday to plug into the latest technology for the county’s computer labs and prepare for virtualization.

Jeff Webb, network administrator for Raleigh County Schools explained that “virtualization is the use of software to run multiple virtual computers on one physical computer.” That is, one administrating computer would control and run the computers in the school labs.

He suggests that the labs be connected through this type of “Thin Client” technology.

“Thin Client allows for easier management and allows the schools to expand the life of their computers,” he said.

Webb explained that with this proposed setup, storage and processing would be done at his department, not in the labs. Tech support teams could also install updates from one computer and avoid the man hours it would take to visit each school and each computer.

Not only is Thin Client cheaper to set up, noted Webb, it also saves on power consumption and the system runs site backup programs every night.

“This is a great setup for Raleigh  County,” said board President Richard Snuffer; “Jeff has done a great job with it.

Webb plans to transition one lab to the Thin Client system this fall and allow time for his department to acclimate. His goal is to set up three school computer labs, with 100 new computers up and running by the end of the 2010-11 school year.

Webb pointed out that the county’s students are now using computers that are up to nine years old. Board member Richard Jarrell also pointed out his concern about the dependability of current computer batteries.

The board then had the chance to examine some of the laptops that might be purchased for area school labs.

Among the choices were Dell Latitude E5510 and E6510 notebook computers and the new Dell Inspiron 1010 netbook.

Board members will continue to discuss their computer options and plan to make a decision in the future.

The Board of Education also noted that asbestos has been removed from Fairdale Elementary and demolition will begin soon.

The new Fairdale Elementary School will be dedicated on Sept. 3.

— Email: splummer@register-herald.com

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