Unlocking AVD at Enterprise-scale | University of Glasgow

In the space of a few weeks Servent helped the University of Glasgow (UoG) enable tens of thousands of students and staff to work safely from anywhere in the world using Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) from Microsoft.

The UoG was similar to most other education establishments across the world prior to Covid-19 with a mixture of those who learned and worked on and off campus.

With the arrival of Covid-19 on UK shores in early 2020 it rapidly changed how the University could work. Both students and academic staff were no longer able or permitted to access the University of Glasgow campus locations across the country due to the national lockdown.

As a result it meant many were left with no connectivity to the resources which they used either as a student or staff member. Students had no means to be able to access coursework or learning materials. Similarly, Academic staff struggled to keep the University operational without access to key systems and platforms which power the establishment.

Servent were engaged with the University to design, build, and deploy a new remote working solution and service. In a few weeks the platform was operational and students and academic staff enrolled on the service which permitted them to work anywhere in the world.

Most importantly, there was no interruption to the University curriculum either as a result of the pandemic which was incredibly important to students and staff alike. The solution we deployed was commissioned to support all staff and students at the University and scaled itself accordingly to cater for periods of peak usage and demand.