This presentations outlines the benefits that Colama brings with the implementation of a virtual computer lab in educational institutes. Colama, a product of Coriolis Technologies Pvt Ltd (http://coriolis.co.in/colama) offers an infrastructure to build a virtual computer labs.

1. Colama powered virtual computer
lab
Coriolis Technologies Pvt Ltd

2. Motivation
The issues: The vision:
1. Multiple computer labs with 1. Dissolve the physical and
heterogeneous h/w configurations geographical dependencies on
and software installed. labs.
2. Students requiring access to 2. Give access to multiple
multiple machines for advanced machines to students for
learning. advanced experiments at no extra
3. Students requiring access to hardware cost.
specialized software beyond their 3. Expand students' learning and
alloted lab time. experimentation time beyond lab
4. Students queing up for hours.
computers with specific 4. Make use of students' laptops
configuration (say linux) in a lab without compromising security.
while other labs are free. 5. Minimize repetitive tasks like
5. Setting up pristine practical installations, configurations etc
examination env for each batch is
tedious.
The solution
Create a virtual computer lab powered by
Colama – univ edition. This will provide
any time access to require software,
hardware and data from any place and
any device with a web browser.

3. How does it work
1. Users' personally configured
desktops/servers (virtual machine
images) reside on colama
infrastructure.
2. Users log in using web interface
and starts the machines owned by
them.
3. Once started, users get console
access to all machines they own.
4. Users get policy driven access to
virtual machines. Policies are
controlled by the admin / super­
user.
5. Faculty members get priviledged
access in order to manage the lab
sessions.

4. How does it benefit students
One computer shared
access to one student
Transformed into
Multiple virtual
computers' private
access to one student
1. Owns multiple (as many as they require) virtual machines.
2. Anytime access from any place with net connectivity on any device with a
browser.
3. Access to specialized software beyond lab hours and outside the physical
lab.
4. Carry and continue their assigments with the same hardware and software
env back at home/hostel.
5. Preserve ”snapshots” of their machines and rollback to an earlier known
state/configuration in case of machine corruption.

5. How does it benefit institute and faculty
For the institute management
1. Improved student to computer ratio without additional hardware + admin
cost.
2. Hassle­free scheduling of computer lab classes.
3. Allows older machines to be used in lab as the applications run on server.
4. Drastically reduces capital and operation expenses on labs.
5. Provides quick and pristine examination environment.
6. Ensures maximum utilization of licensed software.
7. Security and accountability for the content of the lab computers.
120
100
80
60 All PC standard
computer lab
40
Colama powered
20 virtual computer lab
0
Hardware Energy Annual Annual
purchase cost maintenan operational
cost ce cost cost
Figure: Cost advantage of Colama powered virtual computer lab

6. How does it benefit faculty
1. Teaching tool
● can point one machine (virtual) as ”demo”, i.e
viewable by all students.
● real time troubleshooting on students' virtual
machines by just accessing their
corresponding consoles.
2. Ease of invigilation during practical exams:
just access the consoles of students.
3. Better quality of assigments can be given
due to increased access to compute resources.
4. Better evaluation: See the assignments in
running state in students' virtual machines stored
on the server.

7. We look forward to build virtual computer labs for you
Thank you