SUNNYVALE, Calif. - February 29, 2012 -As educational institutions face increasing budget constraints and strain under growth demands, NetApp continues to strengthen its commitment to supporting schools with IT solutions that do more for less. Since NetApp's Education Donation Program kicked off in September 2011, NetApp has made donations to school systems across the country, including Arizona State University (ASU), the Idaho Falls School District, and Michigan State University, as part of a long-term investment to improve education IT.

Through the program, Arizona State University partnered with NetApp to create a centralized virtual desktop solution. Often the potential advantages of virtual desktops are hindered in educational organizations due to higher storage costs and the limitations of an inflexible infrastructure. NetApp provided ASU with a clustered file system, a solution that provides users with continuous access to their virtual desktops with high storage availability, automated disaster recovery, and desktop virtualization performance acceleration. The system allows ASU to manage data more efficiently while reducing overhead cost, creating a more flexible and efficient IT solution for the future of the organization.

"NetApp has been a strong supporter of Arizona State University and our mission," said Jay L. Steed, assistant vice president for IT Operations & Support for Arizona State University's Technology Office. "For many years, NetApp has partnered with ASU to provide services and solutions to benefit the academic and research endeavors of the university. This generous donation has been deployed in conjunction with a number of initiatives targeted at improving the reliability and availability of academic applications here at ASU."

"Educational organizations are constantly seeking out new and innovative ways to deliver advanced learning opportunities under tight budgetary restrictions," said Regina Kunkle, vice president of State and Local Government and Higher Education (SLED), NetApp. "Our work with Arizona State University is a great example of how smart IT decisions can be the driving force to help schools achieve their goals, and the Education Donation Program provides us with the opportunity to continue to enable education customers to achieve the IT efficiency and flexibility they need to thrive in today's challenging environment."

Additional Details

• This program is open to not-for-profit higher-education and K-12 schools in the United States. Schools can connect with NetApp to find out if their institution is eligible to participate.

Additional Resources

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