eXtreme Deployment: Distributing and Configuring 450 Student Laptops in Five Hours

Drew University has been recognized as a leader in Ubiquitous Computing since 1984, with the introduction of our Computer Initiative program, distributing more than 450 notebook computers to incoming students. Drew's first Windows XP implementation did not register student computers into an Active Directory domain, instead opting for an unmanaged local account, which caused many support issues. By contract, having the computers in the domain would mean that users would not need a separate password to log in locally. eXtreme Deployment was developed during the summer of 2003. Preloaded on the notebooks by the vendor, and built on opensource technologies, it identifies computers by their BIOS asset tag information and walks students through the process of joining the domain, and customizing settings for the user. With this, Drew is able to provide just-in-time personalization of student computers, without needing to pre-allocate them to specific students. The Fall 2003 computer distribution using eXtreme Deployment was a success, registering over 450 computers into our domain in five hours. We have since integrated the technology into our staff computer deployment and have found the deployment technology to be quite flexible. Our paper will further explain the development and adaptability of this technology