eXtreme Deployment: Distributing and Configuring 450Student Laptops in Five Hours

摘要

Drew University has been recognized as a leader in UbiquitousrnComputing since 1984, with the introduction of our ComputerrnInitiative program, distributing more than 450 notebookrncomputers to incoming students.rnDrew's first Windows XP implementation did not register studentrncomputers into an Active Directory domain, instead opting for anrnunmanaged local account, which caused many support issues. Byrncontract, having the computers in the domain would mean thatrnusers would not need a separate password to log in locally.rneXtreme Deployment was developed during the summer of 2003.rnPreloaded on the notebooks by the vendor, and built on opensourcerntechnologies, it identifies computers by their BIOS assetrntag information and walks students through the process of joiningrnthe domain, and customizing settings for the user. With this,rnDrew is able to provide just-in-time personalization of studentrncomputers, without needing to pre-allocate them to specificrnstudents.rnThe Fall 2003 computer distribution using eXtreme Deploymentrnwas a success, registering over 450 computers into our domain inrnfive hours. We have since integrated the technology into our staffrncomputer deployment and have found the deployment technologyrnto be quite flexible. Our paper will further explain therndevelopment and adaptability of this technology.