NoMachine NX provides graphical applications to the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center.

About the University

Ranked 8^th university in the world and in the top 20 research universities in America, the University of Chicago has been a leader in cancer research for more than 50 years, transforming cancer care and prevention for medical centers and professionals around the world. With over 14,700 students and 2,100 faculty and academic personnel, including 81 Nobel Prize winners with 7 of them currently on staff, the University of Chicago has been leading in the sciences with many historic firsts and discoveries. It was at Chicago that REM sleep was discovered, carbon 14 dating was developed, the study of black holes was conceived and the nation's first living-donor liver transplant was performed. The radiology department is also a pioneer in the field of computer aided diagnostics, which is the study of how computers can be used to aid radiologists and other physicians in detecting and diagnosing disease.

The Challenge

The Department of Radiology and Cancer Research Center at the University of Chicago needed a remote access solution to allow their researchers to access graphical desktops and applications on their High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster from anywhere in the world. It was necessary that users were able to access over any connection, even dial up lines, regardless of their operating system.

Increasingly more High Performance Computing (HPC) tools for monitoring and code development are graphical making simple command line shell access inadequate. The department therefore needed an application delivery solution that would be able to handle the highly graphical applications that is a part of their daily IT environment. These graphical desktops and environments also required remote access software to support 3-D GLX extension for the applications to run successfully.

The Solution

NoMachine NX was decided upon as a network computing solution for the department because of its reliable high performance over any connection, multi-platform support, and most importantly support for the GLX extension required to run 3-D graphical applications. NX allows unlimited users to login to their desktop session and access the cluster remotely to resume their work while at home or traveling. NX also provides a persistent remote desktop for researchers working from any location that is just as responsive as a local desktop and provides a 'just like being there' experience.

Results

NX exceeded expectations for The Department of Radiology and Cancer Center Research at the University of Chicago in terms of speed, functionality and stability, maintaining its performance even when session numbers were high. The new NX infrastructure will ensure that the department's growing user base will always have up-to-the-minute access to the information they need on demand.

UC looked to improve their research process through technology, with the overriding aim to drastically reduce overall expenditure. NoMachine NX fit the description and also provided IT flexibility as an integral part of the solution to support rapid user growth and predict any future spending in terms of NX licensing as well as trim IT costs in general. Previously, the bulk of their IT budget went into maintaining their legacy desktops. The group spent most of their yearly IT budget in this area alone, with the cost of powering the devices increasing the expense.

Chun-Wai Chan, Senior Systems Administrator for the Department says, "With the cost savings, advanced speed and functionality of NX, we can make a centralized facility accessible as if it were a local desktop, enhancing the productivity of faculty scattered across campus and off-campus collaborators. This helps to make interdisciplinary research possible by enabling the sharing of different strategies and techniques which would otherwise exist only in isolation."

About NoMachine NX Enterprise Server

A fully-featured Unix terminal server and desktop consolidation tool allowing users to create, manage and operate an unlimited number of virtual desktop sessions on a single server. Perfect for companies which need to offer a complete set of corporate services to all mobile and on-site employees.

NX security is guaranteed at every layer involved in the communication process. NX uses SSH public-key encryption and 128 bit volatile random cookie generation.