itopia Labs takes pride in providing a managed service. In order to provide the smoothest end-user experience for our customers, everything regarding Labs must be thoroughly vetted and tested before releasing to our customers.
This is especially true of applications. Here are the key considerations that must be met before an application can be made available in itopia Labs.
Can the application be installed and configured programmatically so that our K12 teachers and students have a working Lab every time a student clicks connect?
Does the application support virtualization?
Can itopia Labs remain compliant to the licensing guidelines put forth by the ISV (Independent Software Vendors)?
Are we able to get feedback from the K12 early adopter to ensure that the application is functioning as intended?
Virtualization Support
While we encourage K12 districts to request support for applications they don't see in the Labs application catalog, not all applications deigned for Microsoft Windows will work or be supported in Labs.
itopia is actively building relations with the Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) who own each of these individual Windows application to ensure their application(s) support virtualization, including cloud platforms like Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Support
Even if itopia can get the Windows application to run on Labs, itopia must have a relationship with the ISV who owns the application. This is necessary to ensure they're provide the necessary level of support required by a fully managed solution such as Labs.
Licensing
If we do say ourselves, one of the most elegant features of Labs is the ephemeral nature of the environment. Virtual Machines (VMs) only get created when a student clicks connect and they get destroyed 15 mins after the student has logged out. This process makes the product cost-effective, secure, and operationally scalable.