Student Owned Computing

Some of the software used in our various engineering curricula cannot be installed directly on student-owned computers because of prohibitive cost or restrictions in licensing agreements. However, the Virtual Computing Lab (VCL) -- a service developed in the College of Engineering -- allows students, faculty and staff to access these programs remotely using their own computers, 24 x 7 x 365.

Briefly, the way it works is that you go to the VCL web site and create a reservation based on the software you want to use. VCL begins loading a clean, new installation on a remote server. When your reservation is ready (usually a matter of a few minutes, but often instantly), you receive an email saying that your reservation is ready. Then you can connect to the remote computer and use it as though you were sitting in front of it.

When connected to VCL, you are the only person using that remote computer, so you do not need to worry about processor load.

For more, see the VCL web site.