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

确保老师拥有现代的教学工具，并访问他们所需的技术，以帮助学生在21世纪学习和擅长于约翰·梅塞尔（John Mercier）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Modernizing Outdated LAN and Wi-Fi Infrastructure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

作为一个有六所学校和2400多名学生的农村地区，莱德亚德（Ledyard）寻求每一个机会保持领先地位，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.

“在短短六个星期内，我们进行了一个升级的LAN和Wi-Fi，该LAN和Wi-Fi完全安全且易于管理。各种规模的学区都应该研究Aruba和E-Rate，以使其基础设施现代化。”

E-Rate Deal的Aruba“ Unseats”思科

莱德亚德（Ledyard）首先提交了其电子利率文书工作，要求Cisco Meraki作为其技术供应商。但是，当地区评估Aruba的投资组合时，他们确定它是最好，最具成本效益的解决方案。

“We needed a lasting, high-performance investment,” says Jason Lathrop, Ledyard’s Business Manager. “Only Aruba and HPE would give us a five-year life expectancy. They also beat Cisco on price and value.”

Aruba 802.11ac WLAN and Switches Provide ‘Textbook’ Solution

为了满足当前需求并为完整的1：1计算的未来做好准备，Ledyard部署了一个普遍的企业Wi-Fi系统，其中包括Aruba indoor and outdoor access points(APs) and7200 Series Mobility Controllers.

The school district also adopted空波, 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.’ ”

担心安全性也不是一个问题。“我们可以控制不同组或SSID的带宽，” Mercier解释说。“并且能够根据角色（即学生或员工）更好地管理适当资源的访问权限。”

有限的带宽决定上学日

Before moving to an Aruba solution, the district relied on Cisco access points. “They weren’t centrally managed,” Gordon says. “We couldn’t control bandwidth for groups or SSIDs. Cisco can provide these capabilities now, but it will cost you.”

在更新基础架构之前，经验掉落的连接和中断是正常的。在学生评估期间，这也引起了重大头痛。

“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.”

新基础设施消除了带宽“恐慌”

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

“These are important measurements to help our teachers improve their skills and for our students to succeed,” Mercier says. “It makes everyone’s day better when technology doesn’t get in the way. With better and more consistent access, we are hoping to see improved scores.”

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.

When connecting to the Internet through the state system, they always had delays and drops and their top speed was 100 to 150 mbps. Now, they’re pushing close to a gigabyte a second.

Aruba AirWave Makes Optimizing Wi-Fi Easy

空波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.

该地区还可以轻松限制对网络的访问。例如，父母不希望孩子在Ledyard的无线网络上使用个人设备。戈登说：“我只是阻止了学生的无线访问。”“我们无法使用我们的旧思科接入点来做到这一点。”

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

领先的基础设施为未来奠定基础

莱德亚德（Ledyard）采用Pervasive Wi-Fi是一个展示其他学区（较小和小的）如何在一个迅速数字化的世界中导航的方式。Mercier解释说：“包括教科书在内的越来越多的资源正在转向数字。”“我们已经为这一转变做好了准备。”

此外，该地区对为所有学生提供1：1计算感到兴奋。Mercier说：“这是技术成为真正的协作工具的地方，每个人都可以公平地访问技术。”“这将是我们的下一步。

“我们鼓励每所学校前进，” Mercier继续说道。“技术不会消失。我们很高兴我们收到了资金，​​并感谢Aruba和我们的合作伙伴多才多艺，以建立一个竞争性网络，该网络将持续多年。”