St. Jozefs College
Aalst, Belgium. 1,200 students. Outperformed Aerohive to deliver future-proof Wi-Fi network
In a world where we have come to expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, we now demand it in our schools. Children need to be equipped for the future and technology is the here and now as well as the future—constantly evolving. Teachers are developing new ways to digitize their classrooms while students are developing a whole new way of learning from that of the past. The proliferation of mobile devices hitting the network are creating the failure of legacy infrastructures. Schools are searching for a network that is easy to manage, reliable and future proof.
Challenge
St. Jozefs College located in Aalst, Belgium is a secondary educational boarding school serving 1200 students and 120 teachers. It’s a college preparatory high school preparing its students for the next step in their educational journey. St. Jozefs’ provides every student with a tablet along with several desktops for boarding students.
St. Jozefs’ was facing a few different kinds of challenges. The first was a density issue. With the buildings being built in different eras, it resulted in coverage problems. There were also concerns in regards to security. The school wanted to provide different networks for students and external users, including a separate VLAN for guests. The final challenge was finding a future proof network that could handle a lot of concurrent clients without failure campus wide. St. Jozefs’ leaned on partner, The Network Factory for a solution.
Requirements
- Fast and reliable Wi-Fi access in order to offer digital learning material
- A high-performing wireless infrastructure with high capacity, both for teaching locations as the private boarding school
- Infrastructure that allows a wide range can be supported in applications and services for teachers and administrative staff
- An affordable, self-reconfiguring connectivity solution that not only meets the requirements of today, but also prepared for future use
Solutions
- Implementation of 20 RUCKUS® R500 Access Point devices, supplemented with 3 RUCKUS access point R310 and R300 2 RUCKUS access point devices and controlled by one ZoneDirector 1200 controller
Benefits
- The number of supported client devices per AP significantly increased, while the signal strength and increased wireless reliability
- The network is prepared for the demands of future years, including extending possibilities for the later future
- The possibilities for management and security for the IT administrator are greatly expanded
