Case Study: California Polytechnic State University achieves major cost savings and rapid lab provisioning with Citrix XenDesktop

Leading engineering school re-energizes computer labs with Citrix XenDesktop

California Polytechnic State University's College of Engineering, a hands‑on, nationally ranked engineering school serving over 20,000 students, faced aging desktop systems in its core computer labs and the prospect of a costly $300,000 hardware refresh. The department sought a more cost‑effective, high‑performance approach that would preserve lab functionality for graphics‑intensive engineering applications without disrupting students or faculty.

Working with CPI Solutions, Cal Poly deployed Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp with Dell servers, Nimble storage and NetScaler appliances, repurposing 288 existing PCs as thin clients and provisioning a 100‑seat virtual desktop environment scaled to 500 concurrent users. The move cut nearly $30,000 from refresh costs, accelerated application deployment to under five minutes, and improved performance for 3D design tools via HDX 3D Pro—outcomes that have enabled further expansion plans.

California Polytechnic State University

Tony Sawa

Network Analyst