English School Upgrades to Easier, Faster Wi-Fi

Located in Torquay, Devon, England, the Torquay Boys’ Grammar School (TBGS) has a history dating back more than a hundred years. The school has an enrollment of more than 1,100 students and approximately 130 faculty and staff. Today it is ranked as one of the Top 20 boys’ schools nationally and offers an educational experience to rival that found anywhere else in the country.

TBGS is in every respect an outstanding school. The school is acknowledged to excel in teaching, learning, achievements, standards, pastoral care, sport, extra-curricular activities, buildings and resources. Educational Inspectors wrote: “The school is enthused with a lively and open atmosphere which encourages innovation and underpins a relentless drive to provide the very best education for the student.”

For years TBGS has had a wireless network running throughout the campus facilities, which spreads across the classrooms and faculty rooms, administrative offices, a bistro area, an assembly hall, a sports hall, and a library. While the network was performing as needed, it was approaching the end of its lifecycle. The network provider announced that technical support would no longer be available for the aging solution.

The situation forced a choice by the school’s ICT Systems Manager, Kevin Smith. TBGS could upgrade to newer technology from the same wireless vendor or select a solution from another provider. Smith took this opportunity to assess the marketplace for robust wireless networking solutions.

The majority of the Wi-Fi usage at TBGS to date was to facilitate a BYOD service for staff members and students who bring their own devices to the school. However, the school is driving toward increased digital learning for students, meaning they will eventually use notebooks, tablets and other devices to access learning materials both online and in the classroom. So, as part of this wireless technology refresh, they wanted to ensure the new system had the capacity and performance to allow students to use devices in the classroom.

The expiring system did not offer a centralized management platform that was simple to understand and effective as a network administration and monitoring tool. With the increasing demand being placed upon the wireless infrastructure and the requirement for the IT Department to ensure that user and device management was simple and effective, finding a new wireless network solution that provided the network management capabilities required was paramount for TBGS.

Delivering Enterprise-Grade Networking at a Cost-Effective Price

Torquay Boys’ Grammar School met with Allied Telesis to learn about the wireless networking capabilities and soon deployed evaluation hardware and trial licenses. School IT staff installed wireless APs in different locations around the school to test ease of setup and performance with the support of Allied Telesis pre-sales support staff. Kevin and his team especially liked the enterprise-grade features and performance, including all the management features they wanted, at a price that was more cost-effective than any of the competitors.

The wireless network is controlled through the Vista Manager EX management platform. A big benefit is that Vista Manager EX integrates seamlessly with Active Directory, enabling students and staff members to join the Wi-Fi network using the same credentials they normally use on their laptop computers. AD policies determine who can join the wireless network, with which registered devices and what they can access on the network. This provides a simple and enjoyable end-user experience, while also giving the IT Department the granular control they require. What’s more, all access is logged and tracked for audit purposes.

Although TBGS deployed just over 40 APs, Vista Manager EX can control up to 3,000 APs from a single instance with hierarchical access and control, giving tremendous capacity for growth if it’s ever needed. This capacity and the generous software licensing program make Allied Telesis a good fit for single site schools and Multi Academy Trust organizations alike. It leaves options for the future open without requiring a hardware or software change for the network management provision.