Case Study: Aalto University achieves uninterrupted remote access to specialist applications with Dell Technologies VxRail VDI

VDI allows research to continue despite campus closure

Aalto University needed to give students and researchers remote access to specialist, resource‑intensive academic applications outside traditional campus IT labs. To meet this challenge the university partnered with Dell Technologies to deploy a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution using Dell EMC VxRail and VMware Horizon, supported by Dell EMC Residency Services.

Dell Technologies implemented a four‑node Dell EMC VxRail hyperconverged cluster with NVIDIA GPU acceleration and VMware Horizon, virtualizing 400 applications and supporting 16,000 active users (about 1,000 concurrent). The VxRail VDI enabled 24/7 access from any device, kept research and teaching running through the COVID‑19 lockdown, and freed up lab real estate for new collaborative spaces.

Aalto University

Hannes Päivänsalo

Head of IT Operations