Case Study: University of Tennessee Knoxville expands remote student access and cuts IT costs with NetApp FlexPod

University of Tennessee Knoxville Boosts Competitive Edge with Citrix Virtualization on FlexPod

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a large public land‑grant university of about 28,000 students, faced rising demand for cloud‑style access to research and creative applications while operating under tightening budgets and a much smaller IT staff. Most specialized software was locked to 36 on‑campus labs (1,200 desktops), limiting access and driving costly maintenance; UT needed affordable remote access, BYOD support, and faster provisioning with fewer resources.

UT implemented Apps@UT using Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop/Provisioning Server on a FlexPod platform (NetApp storage plus Cisco UCS and Nexus networking) to virtualize and stream lab applications to students’ devices. The deployment delivered 1,200 virtual lab desktops, campus‑wide anytime/anywhere access, halved administrative overhead (managed by two staff), faster provisioning (hours to minutes), reduced data‑center footprint and storage needs (dedupe ~40%), and improved reliability with plans to expand services.

University of Tennessee

Wojciech Biernacki

IT Systems Administrator