With constant pressure on budgets, it’s not always easy to make the case for more technology funding. But moving to Windows Vista can actually help reduce your IT costs because it’s easier to deploy, manage and support. On This PageReducing Costs and Supporting SustainabilityWith the growing numbers of PCs in education, as well as increases in energy bills, the costs of IT have grown significantly. In addition, you face pressure to meet sustainability requirements. How Windows Vista Can HelpWindows Vista helps save energy and cut costs through improved power management: - The Sleep feature allows you to save energy by switching off machines when they are idle, but quickly restart in seconds.
- Windows Vista also automatically adjusts laptop power settings to extend battery life and save energy.
Which means that you can reduce your energy costs. You can save up to £46 per year for each computer in use – so a school with 250 computers could save over £10,000 in the first year of switching to Windows Vista.
Ensuring ICT Supports Teaching EffectivelyDo you lose valuable teaching time setting up IT at the beginning of sessions? Teachers can waste up to 10 per cent of their teaching time waiting for desktops to reboot, and connecting a laptop to the projector can be time-consuming. Once connected, you may need to change your computer settings to avoid pop-ups and on-screen notifications coming up on the projected screen in front of students. How Windows Vista Can HelpWindows Vista has a range of features that make life easier for teachers: - The Sleep feature ensures that computers used for teaching are ready to use in seconds, so that computers start up instantly but use almost no power while in sleep mode.
- The Wireless Network Projection setup enables you to connect a laptop to a projector and be ready in seconds, simplifying whole group presentations.
- The Presentation Settings mode makes it easy for teachers to use a laptop to present in class, quickly changing mode to block email and Messenger pop-ups when in teaching mode, and switching off the screensaver automatically.
Which means that you can boost teaching time, and avoid disruption. Engage students instantly at the start of classes, and ensure they spend more time working with computers, and less time waiting for them to start up. You can use your own laptops more easily in and between classes, and use them with confidence for whole-group teaching, as students are not distracted by unwanted pop-ups.
Saving Time on Network Deployment and MaintenanceUpdating institution-wide networks, and building and rebuilding network stations can be a lengthy and time-consuming process. Most IT departments have resource constraints that can lead to delays in deploying new IT resources or identifying and dealing with hardware and network failures. IT teams often need to maintain several disk images to deliver software to computer labs and across the network. How Windows Vista Can HelpNew features of Windows Vista simplify network deployment and maintenance: - Windows Imaging Format allows one image to be used across all PCs, enabling a new Windows Vista PC to be installed in just 10 minutes.
- Re-imaging computers across the institution is quicker and simpler using Business Desktop Deployment, which provides powerful tools to help IT administrators view, prioritise and respond to changes. IT administrators can detect and resolve hardware failures, unbootable systems and system crashes.
- The new Windows Update Agent offers more reliable distributions and requires fewer reboots, with the Background Intelligent Transfer Service optimising software patch distribution according to network activity and available bandwidth.
Which means that IT can be deployed and maintained more quickly and more easily, freeing up resources.
IT administrators can support a variety of PCs, without increasing management costs, and can save time and money by deploying images automatically – reducing image management costs by up to 80 per cent.
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