Aruba Gigabit Wi-Fi + wired network solution modernizes Ledyard School District, benefits from expanded E-Rate funding

确保教师拥有现代教学工具和访问技术，他们需要帮助学生学习和Excel在21世纪是John Merier的平衡行为。

“The way students are learning around the country is changing, and technology is a huge part of that,” explains Mercier, Director of Instructional Technology for Connecticut’s Ledyard Public Schools. “However, when it comes to technology infrastructure, budget is always an issue.”

Modernizing Outdated LAN and Wi-Fi Infrastructure

In just six weeks, we had an upgraded LAN and Wi-Fi that’s fully secure and easy to manage. School districts of all sizes should be looking at Aruba and E-Rate to modernize their infrastructure.
John Mercier,Director of Instructional Technology, Ledyard Public Schools in Ledyard, Connecticut

作为六所学校的农村地区，刚刚超过2400名学生，Ledyard寻找一下避免技术曲线的所有机会，包括提高其无线功能。

When the federal government expanded its E-Rate funding program, the school district immediately jumped on the opportunity to modernize its infrastructure. This included enabling pervasive Wi-Fi to support 1:1 secure computing.

Ledyard selected Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and local partner Versatile to bring their schools up-to-date.

“在短短六周内，我们有一个升级的LAN和Wi-Fi，可以完全安全，易于管理。各种规模的学区应该看阿鲁巴和e-rate，以使他们的基础设施现代化。“

Aruba ‘Unseats’ Cisco from E-Rate Deal

Ledyard首先提交了凯斯科·梅纳吉作为其技术供应商的电子法评装文书工作。但是，当区评估Aruba的投资组合时，他们确定它是最好和最具成本效益的解决方案。

“我们需要持久，高性能的投资，”Ledyard的业务经理Jason Lathrop说。“只有阿鲁巴和HPE会给我们一个五年的预期寿命。他们还击败了价格和价值的思科。“

Aruba 802.11ac WLAN and Switches Provide ‘Textbook’ Solution

To meet current needs and make way for a future of complete 1:1 computing, Ledyard deployed a pervasive enterprise Wi-Fi system that includesAruba indoor and outdoor access points(APs) and7200 Series Mobility Controllers.

The school district also adopted空气波, Aruba’s vendor-agnostic management tool.

局域网升级,他们实现阿鲁巴岛5400系列and 2900 Series switches. These switches bring enterprise-class resiliency and innovative flexibility and scalability for a better mobile-first campus network experience.

“I used to spend a lot of time kicking people off of our network,” explains Steve Gordon, Ledyard’s Network Administrator. “Now, I’m saying, ‘Come on, everyone, and get on the network.’ ”

担心安全并不像问题那么多。“我们可以控制不同组或SSID的带宽，”Mercier解释说。“并更好地能够根据角色管理对适当资源的访问，即学生或员工。”

有限的带宽决定上学日

在搬到阿鲁巴解决方案之前，该区依靠思科接入点。“他们没有集中管理，”戈登说。“我们无法控制组或SSID的带宽。思科现在可以提供这些能力，但它会花费你的价格。“

在更新其基础架构之前，体验连接和中断是正常的。它还在学生评估期间引起了重大头痛。

“If the fourth grade was testing, for example, we’d have to ask the entire third grade to stay off of the network,” Mercier says. “There just wasn’t enough bandwidth. It was panic time. We couldn’t afford to have the network going down during testing.”

新的基础架构消除了带宽'恐慌'

Standardizing on a single manufacturer for wired and wireless provides a uniform experience for administering the Common Core and other online assessments.

“这些是帮助我们的教师提高技能和学生取得成功的重要测量，”Mercier说。“当技术不妨碍时，它会让每个人都更好。随着更好，更一致的访问，我们希望看到改进的分数。“

When conducting speed tests, the district discovered that wireless users can achieve 300 to 350 mbps with a good network adapter. Before, it was easy to top out at 4 to 5 mbps.

通过状态系统连接到互联网时，它们始终有延迟和下降，其顶级速度为100至150 Mbps。现在，他们将靠近千兆字节一秒钟。

Aruba AirWave Makes Optimizing Wi-Fi Easy

空气波is a very robust tool and provides broad visibility into Ledyard’s entire network. “I regularly check the AirWave portal and make tweaks to improve our network capabilities,” says Gordon.

If an access point goes down, it’s easy to see. And the mapping feature helps the district identify problem hardware. For instance, a computer could be malfunctioning or have a limited network card.

该区还可以轻松限制对网络的访问。例如，父母不希望他们的孩子在Ledyard的无线网络上使用他们的个人设备。“我只是阻止了学生的无线访问权限，”戈登说。“我们将无法使用我们的旧思科接入点来执行此操作。”

空气波lets you monitor client behavior, proactively troubleshoot application issues, and plan for capacity.

领先的基础设施为将来奠定了基础

Ledyard的普遍采用wi - fi showcase for how other school districts—large and small—can navigate in a world quickly going digital. “More and more resources, including textbooks, are moving to digital,” Mercier explains. “We’re ready for that shift.”

此外，该区令人兴奋地为所有有1：1计算的学生提供。“这是技术成为真正的协作工具的地方，每个人都有公平的技术访问，”梅斯蒂尔说。“这将是我们的下一步。

“我们鼓励每一所学校向前迈进，”Mercier继续。“技术不会消失。我们很高兴我们收到了资金，​​并感谢Aruba和我们的伙伴多才多艺，为建立一个持续年份的竞争网络。“