Case Study: Queen's University restores fast application access and reduces storage costs with VMware Virtual SAN and Horizon

Queen's University Benefits Campuswide with the VMware's Solutions

Queen’s University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in Kingston, Ontario faced growing infrastructure bottlenecks as more students used resource‑intensive engineering applications (AutoCAD, MATLAB, SOLIDWORKS, etc.). Their EMC VNX SAN couldn’t handle repeated I/O spikes, causing slow application launches—students lost lab time (up to 15%) and IT staff spent excessive time addressing performance complaints while administration sought to reduce CapEx and storage costs.

The faculty implemented VMware Horizon VDI with VMware Virtual SAN, deployed NVIDIA GRID and migrated to Dell servers, scaling the environment to 250 VMs supporting some 3,500 students and 100 staff (150–200 concurrent users). The change eliminated login and app‑launch lag, boosted 3D‑modeling and Office performance, simplified desktop management, reduced downtime and CapEx (Dell migration cut costs ~25%), and significantly improved student and IT satisfaction.

Queen’s University

Stephen Hunt

Director of Information Technology for the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science