SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wyse Technology, the global leader in cloud client computing, today announced the next phase in its successful expansion across Africa with a client implementation at Electronic Test Company Ltd (eTC), which is transforming how examinations are run in Nigeria. The company runs a network of centres where examinations are delivered, taken and scored electronically on a Wyse cloud client computing infrastructure. Electronic Test Company Ltd will be expanding the service nationwide growing the number of Wyse Windows Embedded thin clients deployed in its centres from 5,000 to 100,000 over the next six months.
Testing and examinations in Nigeria had been entirely paper-based and open to considerable abuse and fraud, as well as taking considerable time to mark and return the results to the authorities and eventually to the students.
Electronic Test Company Ltd identified an opportunity for computer-based testing and assessment, developing systems that allowed students to sit a range of tertiary institutions admission and semester exams, City & Guild, ACCA and Nigerian examinations and qualifications. With no paper documentation and use of randomised questions for each student, illegal copying and distribution of papers and cheating is eliminated. The entire testing cycle is much faster and simplified, saving time and money while improving reliability and service with accurate results delivered in hours not months.
To support the service, Electronic Test Company Ltd has built a network of 22 large, medium and small test centres, many on university campuses, in 16 states across Nigeria. Each centre can handle between 250 to 500 students sitting in private cubicles per batch. Each cubicle is equipped with a Wyse V90L thin client, monitor and keyboard connected to a data server via wired (or wireless) networks. Each client provides the student with access to their individual examination paper via a web browser. The Wyse devices consume much less power than equivalent PCs, which reduces the cost of the power back-up systems that have to be deployed to protect against Nigeria’s frequent power outages and brown-outs.
Since starting in 2008, over two million students have taken exams and tests on the Wyse cloud client infrastructure. In the next phase Electronic Test Company Ltd plans to extend the range of examinations supported to include the UTME (tertiary institutions matriculation exams), NECO, WAEC and open 120 new exam locations/centres, increasing the number of Wyse thin clients deployed to 100,000 by August 2011. Deployment will be facilitated by the plug and play functionality of the Wyse devices, which can be set up and running in a matter of minutes as each new centre is fitted out.
Tunde Oladipo, MD, Electronic Test Company Ltd said: “Testing can be a stressful experience for candidates and the Wyse devices are integral to how we provide the best possible environment for sitting e-examinations. The proven flexibility and robustness of their cloud client computing solutions is going to be even more important as we expand the service and have around 200,000 candidates taking tests every day by next year. It is also cost effective because we would deploy e-Learning and e-Library applications on this same infrastructure to bring teaching, learning and researching even closer to the teeming populace.”
Mark Jordan, Vice President, EMEA, Wyse Technology added: “What’s exciting about the Electronic Test Company Ltd is how our technology is helping Nigeria modernize its educational systems using state-of-their-art cloud client computing on a massive scale. They are demonstrating how our technology can be transformative in emerging economies, leveraging its reliability and low running costs to deliver a high quality service to Nigerian students and educators.”
About Electronic Test Company Ltd
Electronic Test Company Limited (eTC) is a company in Lagos, Nigeria set up to provide computer-based testing of candidates for all types of tests. This testing method is referred to as E-examination. It is simply the process by which examinations are delivered, taken and scored electronically. It entails questions being deployed onto computer workstations and candidates answering the questions on to the computer. The process of writing exams is thus completely paperless.
About Wyse Technology
Wyse Technology is the global leader in Cloud Client Computing. The Wyse portfolio includes industry-leading thin, zero and cloud PC client solutions with advanced management, desktop virtualization and cloud software supporting desktops, laptops and next generation mobile devices. Cloud client computing replaces the outdated computing model of the unsecure, unreliable, energy-intensive and expensive PC, all while delivering lower TCO and a superior user experience. Wyse has shipped more than 20 million units and has over 200 million people interacting with their products each day, enabling the leading private, public, hybrid and government cloud implementations worldwide. Wyse partners with industry-leading IT vendors, including Cisco®, Citrix®, IBM®, Microsoft, and VMware® as well as globally-recognized distribution and service partners. Wyse is headquartered in San Jose, California, U.S.A., with offices worldwide. More information can be found at http://www.wyse.com or by calling 1-800-GET-WYSE.