As a result, the district invested in ClassLink‘s OneClick, a solution that enables teachers and students to access their apps and other teaching/learning features with one username and password.

Rob Sexton, Director of Technology in the Olentangy Local School District, says OneClick’s features made the BYOD implementation quick and simple.

Its features include:

• The ability for students and teachers to access the internet from any device, whether or not the device is individually owned or owned by the school.
• Access to thousands of single sign-on apps and the ability to add customized apps.
• The option to sign into ClassLink with the school network login or an existing login from another account without having to worry about remembering multiple usernames and passwords.

“It’s a single sign-on portal,” Sexton says.  “It’s nice in the sense that it’s universal, it doesn’t matter what device the kids bring in. The kids have access to all our resources and files in a one-stop-shop.”

Sexton says implementing OneClick was quick and easy, too.

With the data storage occurring on the Cloud, only one server (which provides the login, directory, etc.) needed to be installed.

“It took us 15 to 20 minutes [to implement],” he says.  “Then we just collected all sorts of resources from the buildings [in the district] on a spread sheet and applied them.”

Jim McVety, VP Marketing & Business Development for ClassLink, also says there were minimal problems on the company’s end of the implementation.

“Our implementation requires a phone call and about an hour to get up and running,” he says. “From there, we roll out with their apps, and the users are up and running very quickly. We also include training and support as part of our licenses – no upsell is required, which is something schools really appreciate.”

The only challenge Sexton foresees with the new solution is teaching students, faculty and staff how to develop internet safety tactics, and how to maintain safe digital citizenships.

Regarding the district’s acceptable use policy, “[we] don’t use anyone else’s username and password,” Sexton says. “But, it still happens. It’s not as bad as it would be, but we take it on a case by case basis.”

Since implementing and first utilizing OneClick, Olentangy Local School District has been able to save on instruction time that could be lost in managing students’, faculty’s and staff’s usernames and passwords.

“They’re very happy with it,” Sexton says. “They like having everything in a one-stop-shop.”

McVety says OneClick also enables the school district to enjoy a smoother teaching and learning experience.

“By making teaching and learning easier, we improve the classroom experience,” he says. “And, because we are connected with almost 5,000 digital resources, there’s no limit to the number and variety of content that schools can access – all with one login.”

Before other school districts launch into a single sign-in solution, Sexton recommends reaching out to current users, like Olentangy Local School District. That way, no time is wasted during the decision-making process, and all prospective solutions can be explored.

“Do your homework, collect best practices, ask other districts what they have,” Sexton says. “See if you’re happy with it, or if there’s something you’re missing, or if a switch is needed. Learn from your mistakes and successes.”

The post Olentangy School District is Making Teaching and Learning Easier with this Single Sign-on Solution appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Instead of thumbing through heavy textbooks and firing up ten-year-old laptops, students are learning how to curate their own content, compartmentalize their own data, and create their own resources using iPads.

In the case of String Theory School, the institution needed to make the move to a 1:1 setting, and needed to graduate from its ten-year-old laptops.

The school decided to invest in a ten-pack of iPads and see how its instructors felt about using it as a potential solution.

“We wanted to explore it as a potential replacement for our laptops,” says Jason Corosanite, Chief Innovation Officer and cofounder of String Theory Schools. “We decided to give them to our core teachers; we said take this home, play with it. They thought it was something that kids would be drawn to. They came back and said it was amazing, these were the best devices for education they had ever seen, and we should replace our laptops.”

But String Theory School isn’t the only institution investing in iPads.

Corosanite reveals three reasons why other K-12 schools are moving to these mobile solutions.

1) Encourage better content responsibility

With some older technologies, including laptops, schools tend to have older device management policies in place, which may not be robust enough to protect students.

iPads and other mobile devices often come with mobile device management software or systems that can arm students’ data even before the ON button is pushed. Some mobile device management systems, such as Apple’s iOS, have advanced security features that can increase teachers’ awareness of what content their students are getting into. For example, if a certain app wants a student’s location or personal data, permission is needed to grant that access; teachers can intervene before students inadvertently enter a digital risk.

“With iPads, we need to be responsible for the content on these devices no matter where they [students] go,” Corosanite says. “Parents don’t know about all these capabilities and what kids can get into. We took ownership of that and are looking at ways we can secure their devices and filter the content.”

2) Students want a device that moves with them

When students are engaged within a 1:1 program in their school, they receive a personalized experience with their teachers. Often times, students look for the technology to personalize to them, too.

Devices like iPads grant students the feeling of “owning” their own device; they can use it in the classroom, and easily pack it away in their backpacks to use it for homework later.

Larger, clunkier devices like laptops are often not allowed to be taken home by students, and can be more tedious to work with.

“We realized iPads enabled kids to engage in ways that they’re used to, and we know that kids are mobile in ways they handle content,” Corosanite says, “They crave mobile devices first.”

3) Help is close by

For schools that are late in joining the iPad wagon, there’s no need to stress. There are other schools that have already implemented iPads and other mobile devices, and have experiences to share.

Schools that are looking to take on a new iPad implementation should consider reaching out to those schools that “did it first” to get a sense of what works, what doesn’t, and what steps to take to maintain the life of the solution.

While schools are trying to solve a problem, they should be “looking out there and seeing what’s successful,” Corosanite says.  “Apple made a commitment that iPads are easy to use in this space.”

The post 3 Reasons Why iPads Beat Out Laptops in the K-12 Space appeared first on My TechDecisions.

However, even though Short moved around the room while she taught, there were still some students who couldn’t hear her.

As a result, Short’s school, Channing Hall, invested in Listen Technologies’ ListenPoint 2.0 Soundfield system.

According to Russ Gentner, President, CEO and Chairman of Listen Technologies, ListenPoint 2.0 “incorporates AV technology and assistive listening systems so that all students can have the opportunity to hear their teacher clearly.”

The system includes four speakers, control units, M1 microphones, room modules and additional accessories like expansion sensors that work cohesively to help students hear better during an in-class lesson.

It enables teachers to amplify the volume of their voices in class, as well as:

• Add sound effects and music to a lesson
• VoIP/Skype capabilities
• Internet access
• DVD and MP3 player features
• Assistive listening capabilities for ADA compliant classrooms

Gentner says that not only will ListenPoint 2.0’s features increase the chances a teacher’s voice will be heard by a whole classrooms, it will also lends a helping hand to students with hearing difficulties.

“Students who have listening difficulties due to hearing loss or other issues can experience delayed speech language skills, lower grades and academic achievement as well as social isolation and poor self-esteem,” he says. “However, when sound is properly amplified in a classroom, student attention improves and class interaction increases. Students learn and retain more through hearing better.”

In the case of Channing Hall, Listen Technologies came in and integrated the new system.

“The system was installed and configured, tailored to meet the Ms. Short’s daily use and overall needs,” Gentner says. “There were not any challenges faced during the implementation. ListenPoint has far fewer cables than a traditional system, making it easier to operate and install. The wireless M1 microphone/media Interface and single Cat-5e connection also provide easier management and maintenance.”

Short says she helped wired the speakers into the ceiling, and received additional training from Listening Technologies on how to use the solution.

“The person who came in to install it gave me a one-on-one,” she says.  “And we have customer support who can help. We work closely with the company, too.”

The Perks & Pluses of ListenPoint 2.0

Short says that she and her students use handheld microphones and wear microphones around their necks when talking in class.

From there, their voices are projected through four speakers that are mounted high on the classroom walls, which help Short keep the voice volume consistent.

Short says one perk with the main system is that she can play with the volume on the transcription microphones and students’ microphones by her desk, or from anywhere in the room.

“What’s really nice about the system is I can control what I’ve got [playing],” she says. “If I’ve got classical music going during study time, I can move it from the mic on the lanyard on my chest, rather than run over to the computer [to adjust it]. I can just press pause, give my lecture and then start it again.”

Even though Short can easily control and access the volume in her classroom, students cannot play with it or tune her out.

“Students can’t play with the volume on it, or mute it,” Short says. “When you give it to them, they don’t have that option. We played around with it, [picked] a good volume, and just kept it. And you can go back into the settings and change it.”

The ListenPoint 2.0 can also connect with any assistive learning technology that students need, such as hearing aids or implants.

“People will come up to me and say, next year I’ve got a student coming in who’s wearing cochlear implants,” Short says. “The technology can connect to those devices so that the student can hear me inside of her ears rather than through the speakers.”

The biggest perk of all, Short says, is that the technology has increased the attentiveness among her students.

“What I enjoy about it is that when I do wear it [the technology], I know their attention is a lot better, especially in the back in the room,” she says.

How to Handle Technology for Better Hearing

Talk to the Vendor

Gentner says talking with your vendor before the installation will help your school identify challenges and set it on a path to finding a solution quicker.

“I recommend talking with a specialist…to discuss the exact challenges you are facing at your school, he says. “They are able to best guide you to a solution that not only meets your needs, but fits within your budgetary constraints.”

Keep up the communication

Short says that teachers and other end users should communicate things like class schedules to their vendor throughout the installation.

That way, both the classroom and vendor can adjust their work schedules and work space, and ensure the workflow runs smoothly.

“Communicate well what your schedule is, because it can be hard for them to come in when your classroom is occupied,” Short says. “Takes notes on certain things; I wished I had done that.”

The post Channing Hall Is Grabbing Students’ Attention With This Audio System appeared first on My TechDecisions.

But, with the deployment of over 2,000 iPads came the demands for bigger, better bandwidth on the school’s network.

As a result, Ramsey School turned to Lightpath, the company the school has relied on for network upgrades for the past 15 years.

On top of the support needed for an army of iPads, Ryan Kenny, Director of the Technology Department for Ramsey School, says the school has been gravitating away from storing resources in-house, and is relying more heavily on the internet and the Cloud to store data.

“We had needs for more bandwidth, [especially to] go 1:1,” Kenny says. “As you increase, the need for bandwidth increases.”

Even though the initial request for more bandwidth seemed daunting to Ramsey School, Joe Flynn, the senior vice president of sales for Lightpath, says his team was able to pull out the school’s old copper infrastructure, and rebuilt it with 100 percent fiber optics.

Lightpath was also able to up the school’s bandwidth to one gigabit, and save the school up to $200 a month on network costs.

Flynn says the network demands Ramsey School had are common in other districts; often, schools are forced to do more with technology to satisfy teaching and learning needs with lesser amounts of resources.

“Having done this a long time with school districts, it’s always a sentiment: “we will never be able to afford the network we need,”” Flynn says. “We can do it, we let them do what they want to do. We can give them more bandwidth for a good value.”

Flynn says that because Lightpath has worked on Ramsey School’s network for the past 15 years, there were no problems during deployment.

Plus, the company took the deployment a step further by preparing the new network for needs that may crop up in the future, such as the inclusion of even more devices in the classroom.

“There were no complications with deployment because when we built the initial network for them, we were mindful of the initial challenges they had, and their long term vision,” Flynn says. “We built it so the scalability is inherent in the network…
We’re building in the scalability to grow as their needs do.”

Kenny says even though Ramsey School’s network improvements were recent, he expects it will need another upgrade in the near future, especially as teaching needs and curricula shift.

“We have one gigabit internet speed [now], but I’m sure in the next three years we’re going to have to go to two or three gigs because of the amount of online demand,” he says. “We’re staying 1:1 for grades six through 12; for grades three, four, and five, we’re pushing to a model where classrooms have sets of iPads and Chromebooks so a teacher will have a set of 10 or 12 iPads in their classrooms.”

Tips to the Beginning of Better Bandwidth

Pick a Good Partner

Kenny says before pulling the trigger on expanding a network, a school should reach out to other schools to see which vendors they worked with, and how the deployment went.

Doing so can help a network upgrade run smoothly with minimal kinks.

“When choosing a provider, like Lightpath, reach out to constituents in other districts to see who they’re using,” Kenny says. “Schools have a tough shop because they do not always have the funding or staffing available that can get your network up to speed and prepare. Having a partner like LightPath you can rely on and count on is huge.”

Be Open Minded

Flynn says one mistake schools make when expanding their network is thinking their “dream” network is unreachable due to limited resources and funds.

He says schools should express their ideas to the vendors they choose to work with, and be ready to collaborate ideas on how to achieve their bandwidth needs.

“Be open minded and be ready for a collaborative relationship,” Flynn says. “We’re not interested in simply coming in and replacing what they [schools] have. [We want to] talk with them– what’s their vision, what do they want to accomplish, what would be best for the community and students. When we know that, we can build a solution that will help them.”

The post Ramsey School is Supporting 2,000 iPads with Bigger Bandwidth and This Network Provider appeared first on My TechDecisions.

As a result, Brown ditched the district’s old software solution, iPass, and traded it in for a new solution – Skyward.

Skyward, a software-based student management suite, enables school districts to better organize internal structures, including students’ grades, student enrollment, IT strategies and administrative tasks.

Brown says that one of the best features Skyward offers Gateway School District is its ability to work for the user.

“They give you a lot of abilities to say “ok, we want to have these codes or we want to follow these standards,” [or] different ways of configuring the product to work with the district,” Brown says. “Not the other way around.”

Sandy Kickert, Project Manager of Skyward, says Brown and the rest of the district are able to take advantage of the software’s “one-stop-shop” capabilities.

“One of the good things with Skyward is…they can login in once, and get to everything they need, on both the student and finance side,” Kickert says.

Plus, Kickert says, staff members like Brown can also find and utilize the other resources on the software, such as professional development options.

“There are a lot of resources,” she says. “We have a Professional Development Center, which Gateway purchased; it’s a self-paced online course they can take in addition to the training they bought, where an actual Skyward trainer comes on site. That’s a good way for people to get help on their own. We also have online documentation, service calls, free webinars, etc.”

Skyward staff trained the faculty and staff in Gateway School District, and lent a helping hand if problems popped up after the installation.

“I would say we probably didn’t do enough of it [training],” Brown says. “We’re still going through professional development to learn how to use it fully.”

Since installing Skyward, Brown says the software is mostly used by teachers, school nurses, secretaries, and anyone in a role that provides students support services.

Brown also says that Skyward’s grade book feature is utilized the most, as is the extra communication opportunities that teachers can send to parents.

“The thing we’re using with Skyward that none of the other systems had is extra communication features,” he says. “We can send out email blasts to parents or students. We can say that an assignment was posted, so the teacher doesn’t have to go out and send it through another system. That’s been fantastic.”

Skyward has also been fantastic to work with, Brown says, and makes any internal or data changes transparent to him and its other customers.

“Skyward is open about providing details of their database for custom reporting,” Brown says. “With our old system, they’d say, “you’re not allowed to touch our database, that’s our data structure.” With Skyward, they publically make that info available, and it’s in the releases of what’s changing. So, they’re saying it’s your data, you can report it any way you want. For me, as a data person, I love that.”

Tips to Planning Your Next Student Administrative Software Solution

Build Your Team

Brown says that school districts looking to implement a new student administrative software solution should build a team that will consistently work with its chosen vendor.

That way, everyone is on the same page, and the install can run smoothly.

“I would say involve as many people up front as possible,” Brown says. “Have meetings to communicate to say “hey, this sounds like a feature that we could use and that other people could benefit from”…By communicating more…you can establish how you want to proceed without having to go back and revisit it every few months.”

Take the Time

Before jumping into a new solution, Kickert recommends giving that team plenty of time to learn the new product.

“I would suggest that they give themselves plenty of time,” she says. “People have their own lives, own jobs, plus they have to learn the software, implement the new software, do the setup, etc. It’s great not to budget too tightly on the training.”

Keep Expectations Simple

Once a team and time are accounted for, Kickert suggests that the district formulate realistic expectations for the installation.

She says to expect hiccups, bugs, and for the full setup to be slow.

“It’s a change,” Kickert says. “You’re switching from one system to another and trying to do everything correctly. Just get your staff on board with that. Usually people will come back and say that the software and everything ran well, but the process of getting through it is never without loss.”

The post Gateway School District Optimizes Better Administrative Organization with This Software appeared first on My TechDecisions.

As a result, she needed a technology solution to support her teaching style and manage all of her students simultaneously.

That solution was MyEconLab by Pearson.

“In the economics department at the University of Georgia, we do not have a mandated adoption or a common adoption,” says McClain, a senior lecturer in the department of economics at the University of Georgia. “I’m a very strong believer in frequent homework and practice problems and needed some way to get feedback to 900 students that I clearly couldn’t get to them – that’s what really drove my decision to adopt an online homework platform.”

John Tweeddale, the senior vice president of Efficacy & Quality at Pearson, says MyEconLab is centered around creating a learning experience for students guided by the instructor around a course’s outcomes and objectives.

It also provides students with the support they need in terms of practicing, understanding key concepts and applying them in a certain course.

“If you look through Dr. McClain’s study, the problems that students are able to practice and the types of solutions that [are geared] around additional support guide students through understanding how to apply a problem,” Tweeddale says. “It gives students extra support through their homework experience, and also gives them more immediate feedback.”

Through MyEconLab’s immediate feedback feature, students have a sense of whether or not they understand what they are learning, or if they need extra help from the instructor.

In order to use MyEconLab, students need access to a computer or tablet. From there, students follow their instructors’ guidelines.

“If students are in my 10 a.m. class, I will set up a section in MyEconLab for that class,” McClain says. “They purchase access to it, and they log into it. Inside of that class, I can do a whole spectrum of activities: I can post documents for them; if there’s an article I want them to read, I can post it there; I can put Dropboxes in, if I want them to send me something…I can even create online homework.”

McClain says she also uses the solution to contact students that may have failed a test to offer them extra assistance, or to check in on how a class is performing in general.

“They’re scored by the system, I don’t have to grade them or create an answer key,” she says. “The students know right away when they got something right or wrong. In my homework, I set it up so they can do it again, because I want them to keep practicing until they learn a concept.”

Aside from helping her better manage her hundreds of students, MyEconLab helps McClain’s students absorb more economics through experiential learning.

“They get this repeated practice, they get this experiential learning, they get to go back over and over again,” McClain says. “It’s no question they’re learning economics because they’re engaging with it on a weekly basis. They are having to read a question and provide an answer, not just look at something I’ve written.”

Tips To Managing Your Online Learning Platform

1) Start “using this stuff”

For instructors who are strapped in a situation similar to McClain’s, they should think about using a solution like MyEconLab.

McClain says solutions like MyEconLab help instructors incentivize students to learn without appearing to be too “helicopter-ish,” and get students thinking like future employees.

“I can communicate with my students, send them documents, they can send me documents, they can read the etext, there’s online help, there’s news, videos, etc.,” she says. “It …gives students the ability to problem-solve on their own. That’s important because someday, they’re going to have a boss that says, “get this done,” and if we don’t teach them how to problem solve on their own, they’re not going to be a very successful employee.”

2) Identify challenges

Before investing in a solution like MyEconLab, Tweeddale recommends that colleges identify the learning problems they’re trying to solve.

The sooner colleges start asking questions and tracking down answers, the easier it will be to find the best-fitting technology.

“One of the questions we ask from the start is, “what are you hoping to achieve through the use of a learning technology?”” Tweeddale says. “If you can start understanding that, it helps understand the best model and implementation, the critical milestones in the course, and what data and evidence will help understand how well we’re achieving and addressing them.”

3) Remember – there’s a learning curve

McClain says once a college invests in a solution like MyEconLab, instructors should take it slow.

She says instructors will need more than one semester working with the tool to solve all of their challenges.

“The first semester you use it is not going to be your best semester because you’re learning all new things,” McClain says. “It’s a powerful tool to learn, and you have to still be a little bit flexible to make it work best for you, and not be afraid to try new stuff and change stuff… If you do those things, you’ll be surprised how remarkably powerful it is.”

The post University of Georgia is Handing Out Homework with This Management Solution appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The solution, which entails a virtual edition of a particular course’s accompanying textbook, requires students to purchase access codes, which range from $30 to $100.

While Mastering, like other online forum solutions, is a cheaper alternative to heavy, expensive textbooks, some students don’t like paying to do their homework.

Michelle Bui, a current student at the University of California, Irvine, wrote a column stating that the $70 per course she pays to use Mastering’s forum “is not worth it.”

In her column, Bui said that Mastering should not be a “mandatory aspect of classes at UCI.”

“Mastering is especially excessive considering that there are many cost effective alternatives out there,” she said. “Some UCI professors use programs such as Sapling or even just EEE to post quizzes and homework sets for their students. Sapling only costs about $20 a quarter, while EEE is already integrated.”

Bui also said that Sapling enables students to answer homework questions over and over again, which alerts professors which areas of the class students need help with.

Even though Bui is not a fan of paying for Mastering, she says that tools like it are in fact beneficial to student learning.

She says one of her professors actively uses the solution in his biology classes, and also references a study that proves that students who used Mastering ultimately performed better on exams:

“A 2013 study conducted at Collin College in Plano, Texas examined the correlation between student participation in Mastering Biology quizzes and their performance on exams,” Bui said in her column. “Over two quarters, those students who took all the pre-class quizzes consistently scored above the class average, with the score difference between participants and non-participants being as high as 20 percent.  Researchers hypothesized that this is because in taking quizzes, students can see what information they do and do not know long before they take the exam. The quizzes test their recollective abilities as well as force them to look back at information that they did not fully understand in the first place. Without these checks, students would feel over confident in their skills.”

While the idea of the flipped classroom and higher exam scores are great, Bui said in her column, why should students pay more money for this learning style?

“I am all for extra practice outside of the classroom and using technology to improve my education, but $70 in addition to my tuition, my housing and other supplies like iClickers and handbooks is asking for far too much,” she said. “Online tools should add to my learning experience, not my college debt.”

The post What Happens When Students Pay To Flip the Classroom appeared first on My TechDecisions.

EasyVista Inc. provides the university with service management solutions that will lend automation and self-service features to users.

“Internet of Things is hitting us pretty hard these days,” said Roger Cummings, Project Manager, Gonzaga University, in a previous statement.  “Students used to show up with a laptop and cell phone and now it’s a combination of X-Box, TV, printer, even their Nike shoes and their FitBit fitness tracker and wireless speakers are showing up on the network; upwards of eight devices are not uncommon on campus.  We are thrilled to have the peace of mind that EasyVista brings by automating and managing these modern-day campus Service Management challenges.”

Gonzaga University implemented EasyVista’s solutions in place of BMC’s Service Desk Express.

With the new solution, users at the university will experience the benefits of:

• Multiple workflow automations decreases time and effort required for change management, distance learning and purchasing processes.

• Self-service portal saves time and eliminates duplicate tasks and actions related to all service management duties.

• Increased levels of data science and questionnaire feedback provide powerful insight into how well resources, ticketing and incidents are being managed.

• Greater transparency into Service Management with the ability to perform service-based-costing, enabling a more mature service organization.

“Silicon Valley might be famous for birthing new technology, but it’s the college campus that stretches and tests our tech mettle and Gonzaga University is a great example of an IT organization determined to go the extra mile for its students and faculty,” said Kevin Coppins, General Manager, Americas at EasyVista, in a previous statement.  “We are thoroughly enjoying our partnership with Gonzaga as we help them automate and transform student services into one of a self-service culture moving forward.”

The post Gonzaga University Advances in Automation with this Service Management Solution appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The song, which is performed by campus police officers to the tune of Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” focuses on the multiple ways students can communicate with them in the event of an emergency on campus.

One security method the song covers is the “right-from-their-cell-phone” app called LiveSafe, which enables students connect in real time with campus police officers.

According to a statement by the university, with the app, “through a new specially configured dashboard in the UD Police Command Center, officers can continuously monitor for students’ incoming GPS-enabled texts, and interact with students in real time. LiveSafe lets students “see something, say something” silently or anonymously,” which can be done through videos, audio files and photos.

“The officers who ‘star’ in our video know you sometimes have to go the extra mile to capture the attention of students on our campus,” said Jason Pires, University of Delaware Police Captain, in a previous statement. “The video gets out the word that we’re – really – here to help, while the LiveSafe technology increases and improves the information we receive, cuts our response time, and helps us keep the community safe.”

The video also features a focus on traditional security options students can use to reach campus police officers, including the “blue light” emergency phones located on campus.

“The UD Police video really demonstrates the spirit of our technology,” said Carolyn Parent, LiveSafe CEO, in a previous statement. “We know students are more comfortable communicating on their phones. These tools and the fun CopLineBling video are breaking down barriers between campus security officials and the students they protect.”

Watch the video below:

The post Why University of Delaware Campus Police Officers Are Rapping Like Drake appeared first on My TechDecisions.

This was especially the case of the college’s recent network upgrade.

Vijay Sonty, CIO of Utica College, says his team was looking to update its network infrastructure and support collaboration without breaking the bank.

“We had a five year old, outdated network infrastructure and our network components were leased,” he says. “In a different timeline they were all coming off leases, so we were stuck with the option to either pay at the end of the lease and do a buy-out and stay with the old equipment, or package all this together, form a strategic partnership and do a big bang approach where we renewed the whole network infrastructure, including wired and wireless right from the core all the way to the edge.”

The college, of course, went “all the way to the edge” with Extreme Networks:

3 Reasons Why Utica Went Extreme

1) Closing a mixed shop

Sonty says the college opted for Extreme because its infrastructure was a “mixed shop,” and already used some of Extreme’s solutions, along with some from Cisco.

Sonty and his team were already familiar with Extreme’s pieces, and wanted to solidify the new network under one vendor.

2) Holding onto an extra $1 million

Forming a partnership with Extreme helped the college keep an extra $1 million in its wallet.

“We had Cisco, and Extreme, and the majority of the components were Extreme components,” Sonty says. “We actually took a very systematic approach, we did a mini RFI, and we talked to both Cisco and Extreme, and there were many reasons why we chose Extreme over Cisco. I think the big one was the value for the dollar – we were able to do a complete network upgrade, wired/wireless and would have saved a million dollars over Cisco.”

3) Getting there fast

Sonty says his staff was few and far between, and wasn’t able to deploy the new network’s solutions as quickly as they would have liked.

However, Extreme’s integrator helped Utica pick up the pace.

“When you do a complete infrastructure upgrade…it takes a solid year to implement,” Sonty says. “Partnering with Extreme was real handy because we were able to accomplish that in a span of six months, so that was helpful. Also, Extreme’s systems integrator was very helpful in providing the extra support needed; because of a limited staff, we couldn’t roll out very quickly.”

The post Utica Colleges Used This Vendor to Rebuild a Better Network Infrastructure appeared first on My TechDecisions.