UCI students, especially in the sciences and engineering, need to learn and use very high-end and often expensive software. Buying a copy of each package for every lab computer at UCI is not feasible, so how can UCI offer this essential learning aid?
In collaboration with CSU Fullerton, UCI has made a virtual computing lab available. Using a student’s own computer as the gateway, she or he can run packages such as ArcGIS, Matlab, and SPSS remotely. These packages are fully licensed, and full-featured, but by fluidly sharing licensing and computing capacity, this service is provided at the fraction of the cost of a local, equally well equipped computer lab. Additionally, this solution offers freedom of location and 24/7 service.