Bangor Area School District

Building a new network to expand Wi-Fi coverage across the district for students and teachers while making it is easier for IT staff to manage.

国家: 美国
火狐体育手机: 教育
解决方案: 数据中心, WIFI 解决方案

Bangor Area School District in Eastern Pennsylvania set out to move away from old token ring technology and build a modern network for its 3300+ users. It also included building a full-coverage wireless network for teachers and students. As the district explored options, it discovered Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise switches and wireless access points delivered the most advanced technology at the lowest bid.

The Stellar WLAN is easier to work with and has overall better performance than our previous WLAN APs. The overall network is a solid solution and easier to manage. It just works!

Timothy Curran, Director of Technology, Bangor Area School District

挑战

Bangor Area School District’s network needed to be updated to meet the needs of modern teaching and learning methods, including high bandwidth low latency performance. With a switch in each classroom, network support placed an unreasonable burden on a limited IT staff of three. In addition, the district wanted to offer a robust wireless network for students, teachers and staff to keep up with the use of wireless devices. Ultimately, the district wanted to address the “always on” expectations of the network for its users.

行动

With the help of business partner Dice Communications, Bangor updated its fiber and added Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® Ethernet switch solutions for Five Points Elementary School, which allowed for remote management. They then added OmniAccess® Stellar Wireless Access Points at Five Points and discovered better performance and network management. The next project was expanding the Wi-Fi reach to the other elementary, middle and high schools for more coverage. The new Stellar wireless network delivered coverage, density and an overall clear graphical interface for management.

结果

Technical benefits

Stellar APs offer reliable connectivity and complete coverage
Experience with OmniSwitch upgrades proved simpler than previous switch vendor
OmniVista 2500 Network Management wireless heat mapping capability found dead spots and helped rebalance the network based on use

Financial benefits

Savings from efficient network switch design used to purchase keyless door lock system
Low cost/high value return from ALE training
Secured long term investment and overcame budget constraints with eRate funding

User experience benefits

Easy connectivity for teacher’s laptops, learning devices and projectors to WLAN
New eSports program is successfully supported via reliable network
IT projects go unnoticed as users turn devices on and they connect without issue
Wireless delivers better overall user experience
Business Partner Dice Communications answers all calls and requests, demonstrating the true value in a partner

产品 & 解决方案

Products

Alcatel-Lucent OmniAccess® Stellar Wireless Access Points
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6900
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6560
Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6450
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista® 2500

WHAT’S NEXT FOR BANGOR SCHOOLS?

Bangor is exploring exterior Wi-Fi access points via a grant to open access and connect first responders to the student notification and outside buildings. It will enable use of the “Navigate Prepared” app in the event of an emergency.