An investigation into higher education users’ perception of virtual services at the University Campus Oldham

Virtualization is a method of using computer technology in such a way that any one individual user is able to access many other devices remotely. In other words, it allows one computer to control many others or one operating system accessing multiple computers in order to analyse their databases. It can also be used in a way that there is no need for multiple servers, thus reducing the numbers needed by any one organisation. This will also allow the use of many different applications and software with less hardware. Applications are able to run faster and there will be increased availability with more users being able to use each piece of hardware as well as access to software licenses, which under normal circumstances can be expensive. The main attraction of virtualization is that access to a virtual desktop can be global as well as local by remote access with the ever expanding use of Broadband services, giving high speed internet access. There is also evidence to show that virtualization is growing in all areas, most importantly education, business and commerce.

Sharing many different services via the Cloud is increasing popular for both communication and data storage and that its capabilities may expand even further (Cafaro et al, 2010). As virtualization increases, surely that is the way education should evolve also. Therefore should the education system now be using virtualization to provide Knowledge as a Service? These are questions, which will be addressed by this thesis together with showing that virtualization would be more cost effective to run and be more flexible and faster; ensuring that both academic students and staff are working with up to date technology and resources. Finally by using theoretical models of program development for virtualization this thesis will demonstrate that introducing a virtual desktop would be accepted by users though there are some issues that would need addressing prior to any significant deployment in a higher education setting.