At the City University of New York (CUNY), 143 students and six faculty members are tak­ing part in a virtual application streaming pilot - as of September 2008, they can access cam­pus software instantaneously from anywhere via the Internet.

After streaming the application to their com­puters the first time, users run the software as if it’s installed directly to their devices - both online and offline. At the same time, CUNY’s streamed applications maintain a management link to its server, with the ability to update each user’s ver­sion of the software and recall it when the user no longer requires access to the application.