Devon IT, a leading alternative desktop computing company, announced today the Green School Initiative (GSI) to help schools of all sizes save valuable resources and reduce IT costs by implementing thin client technologies.

Secondary and higher education institutions are finding ways to use less energy and operate in a more environmentally-friendly fashion. GSI is designed to help schools customize the implementation of thin clients and deploy green technologies within their specific computing environments. As part of the program launch, Devon IT has created a GSI lab that allows IT personnel to test and validate common education applications in a green environment, either live by bringing hardware and software into the lab or via remote connection.

“Thin clients are being used in almost every aspect of education,” noted Joe Makoid, President, Devon IT. “Classrooms, labs, libraries, and administrative computing environments are ideal for thin clients. Our customers have benefited from maintaining the same level of desktop performance while saving significant money on energy costs.”

Devon IT thin clients are small, light, compact, and have no moving parts. They also emit less heat and use less electricity, consuming on average 75%-85% less energy than traditional PCs. Customers have saved up to 7,000 kilowatt hours for every software application put onto a virtual machine.

“Especially in difficult economic times, schools of all sizes are looking for ways to save money across-the-board,” says Michael King, Vice President, Global Education Industry for IBM. “Information technology expense is clearly an area where costs can be reduced by implementing green approaches. Green IT programs give schools an opportunity to realize potential space, power, and time management savings that allow them to reallocate funds to other areas of operation.”

“Implementing 100 thin clients in place of PCs can drive tens of thousands of dollars in energy savings each year,” explained Makoid. “And by deploying Devon IT thin clients and our partners’ virtualization, and server solutions, our customers have saved an average of 60%-80% on their annual electric costs.”

Devon IT is launching GSI with special pricing for education. For more information, contact Devon IT at info@devonit.com, 610-757-4110 or 888-524-9382.