UCI's Underground Student Computer Lab - Current State

In UCI's Computer Lab underneath Starbuck's, there are currently 50 computers in use, 18 of those Macs and 29 of those PCs. At its current state, the lab uses lots of IT materials that can be saved. The average life expectancy of a computer part is around a year and a half (18 months) before needing to be replaced. When the computers break or need maintenance, they must be replaced in a costly manner. We believe that cloud computing offers a cost-saving way to help UCI go green.

Virtual computer labs can be setup through cloud computing. Students of UCI will no longer have to have access to a computer from the lab to use its resources, they can use their own personal laptops. Servers and infrastructure located in a data center create a virtual environment to run programs for students. This function of cloud computing can be viewed through a personal laptop.This trend toward "cloud computing" significantly lessens the need for traditional computer labs.

While it may be tempting by those on some campuses to interpret the trend away from providing computer labs as opportunities to save on computing related space allocation and IT funding, they really represent a call for allocating space and funding in new ways. The need to allocate resources properly will necessitate institutions to learn how to continue to meet challenge of creating non-traditional learning environments that support collaborative mobile computing.