SIGUCCS 2017

There has been increasing pressure now more than ever to eliminate and replace physical computing spaces with virtual environments. We will discuss the pros and cons of each solution from our experience, and why we felt that a combination of physical and virtual environments provides the ultimate benefits in advancing our teaching, learning, and research missions. It is important to understand all the delivery mechanisms available today and picking the right tool for the right job. When do you virtualize, when do you opt for server-hosted, when do you throw in GPU-accelerated workstations, and when do you offload to a high-performance computing cluster. It is important to understand the tools available to us and then carefully research and test how they can be best applied to a given scenario. Participants should walk away with real-world knowledge, skills and best practices in delivering high-performing computing labs.