VMLogix, Inc., a provider of virtual machine management solutions designed for software companies and IT organizations, today announced that ManTech International Corporation, a leading provider of information technology (IT) services to the US government, has deployed VMLogix LabManager in their San Diego training division. With LabManager, ManTech has been able to cut costs of training lab installation, engineering and support; reduce the time spent setting up labs and the downtime caused by live equipment; and provide students with a better educational and training experience.

“It was taking us one to two days to set up a lab, depending on the class and scenario. Additionally, when using live equipment things inevitably break, injecting another variable into our lab set up,” said David Sarvey, an engineer at ManTech. “VMLogix LabManager helped us achieve significant cost savings and helped reduce the time it took to set up a training lab for important Navy contracts. Using LabManager has allowed us to design not only a normal operations lab, but also a troubleshooting lab which gives the students a much more hands-on, practical application-type experience.”

With a team of two IT and security specialists servicing a major US government contract for the Navy, the ManTech division in San Diego provided mobile environments for training lab sessions. However, the company wanted to make its training labs more effective, reduce overall cost, reduce risks associated with training on live equipment and eliminate the bottleneck of physical hardware limitations, such as having more students to train than its equipment could support. In March 2009, ManTech adopted VMLogix LabManager for its virtual lab automation needs because of the solution’s heterogeneous hypervisor support and exceptional customer service. Since deployment, the company has been able to reduce the cost of training lab installation and support by $4.1 million. Additionally, ManTech has been able to reduce lab set up time from days to minutes and eliminate the downtime risk of live equipment by having students use a virtual lab instead of a physical system. In the future, ManTech will continue deploying VMLogix LabManager out to Navy classrooms as well as in VMware ESXi environments.

“Virtual lab automation is essential for test and development, but it has an array of other applications where its role can be just as critical,” said Sameer Dholakia, CEO of VMLogix. “ManTech is a testament to how training labs can greatly benefit from a virtual lab automation solution like VMLogix LabManager.”