Case Study: Sundown ISD and Netsync Deliver Adobe Applications to Students via ChromeOS using Amazon AppStream 2.0

The Challenge

Sundown ISD in rural West Texas is a highly-regarded district that relies on services such as Google Authentication and ChromeOS to deliver instruction to students both inside and outside its network. This strategic decision has allowed the district to greatly simplify the management of users and lower the acquisition cost of devices, but it did come with one challenge: ChromeOS does not run native on Microsoft Windows applications, and the district needed to ensure its ChromeOS-based devices could continue to deliver advanced software applications regardless of a student’s computer operating system or physical location.

Teaching classes using advanced software suites like Adobe Creative Cloud is particularly challenging. ChromeOS-based devices and most home computers do not have the processing power required to run such sophisticated applications. Netsync worked with Sundown ISD to design an affordable solution to the problem using the Amazon AppStream 2.0 service.

A Solution for a Modern Educational Environment

Netsync developed an Amazon AppStream 2.0 infrastructure in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud for Sundown ISD that ensures the delivery of high-performance applications to all students, regardless of the type of computer they are using inside the district’s network or at home.

Netsync developed the solution in close cooperation with Sundown ISD’s educators and technology department staff to ensure classes continued without interruption.

Netsync’s deep expertise helping some of the largest school districts in the country allowed its team to quickly identify the right tools to address Sundown ISD’s challenge. For more than 18 years, Netsync’s engineers and solutions architects have successfully deployed thousands of solutions for K-12 schools and higher education institutions by working closely with technology partners like AWS.

“Our teachers are committed to providing our students the best education available regardless of the challenges,” said Mike Glaze, Director of Technology at Sundown ISD. “Netsync stood with our administrators and our technology team and worked collaboratively to deploy a solution that was easy to use for both teachers and students alike.”

Deploying the Amazon AppStream 2.0 service allowed Sundown ISD to quickly provide a fully managed desktop streaming service. This solution can stream applications to any Internet-connected device using an HTML 4.0 or higher compliant browser, including Google Chromebooks and computers running Windows and Mac operating systems.