In a recently case study, Cisco (News - Alert) highlighted how it is addressing the needs of the K-12 education market.

 

Several school participated in the study, including Kent School District in the state of Washington, School District No. 23 in Kelowna, B (News - Alert).C. (Canada), and the Brevard School District, in Viera, Florida.

 

With 27,000 students at 40 schools and 3,200 employees, the Kent School District in the state of Washington depends on its network to enrich its learning environment and help instructors and administrators work more effectively.

 

Marie Hattar, vice president of network systems and security marketing for Cisco said: "Our goal for K-12 education customers is to equip them with the tools they need to support current applications and ready them to handle tomorrow's application advances, so they can enrich the learning experience of their students and better prepare them for the future."

 

Cisco switching, wireless and service solutions that are enhancing the learning environment in K-12 schools include: Cisco Catalyst Switches with Power over Ethernet (PoE), 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Cisco Unified Wireless Networks, Cisco SMARTnet Service. These solutions enable the schools to adapt a more simplified wireless deployments, video solutions, centrally manage a wireless network and maintain the school’s network through 24x7 direct accesses to Cisco expertise.

 

"We have maintenance contracts with multiple vendors and Cisco is the most responsive of them all," said Thuan Nguyen, director of information technology at the Kent School District.

 

With plans to implement streaming video into the classroom over the next year, the Kent School District is taking complete advantage of Cisco’s network to support new applications.

 

School District No. 23 uses Cisco technology to improve the way teachers teach and students learn. The decision to go with Cisco was made considering the opportunity to create better ways to collaborate and share knowledge in the classroom.

 

To support this progressive initiative, School District No. 23 deployed a comprehensive Cisco infrastructure, including Cisco Integrated Services Routers, Cisco Catalyst switches, a Cisco Unified Wireless Network, and Cisco SMARTnet Service.

 

More than 4,000 laptops have been distributed to date, and the district plans to dispense an additional 4,000 over the next few years.

 

"In just the first few years of the program, there are marked improvements in writing, literacy and other skills," said Jon Rever, director of technology and education services for School District No. 23. "With digital tools and a wireless network at their disposal, students can collaborate, communicate and share ideas in ways that would be impossible in a conventional classroom. Perhaps even more important, the students are more engaged and enthusiastic about their school work than ever before."

 

The Brevard School District took advantage of Cisco’s infrastructure for its award-winning results. This is the 46th-largest school district in the United States, employing more than 9,600 staff and using ne6arly 25,000 computers spread across 103 sites.

 

Brevard made a decision to do a complete refresh of its network with an end-to-end converged solution from Cisco. Using the Cisco Unified Wireless Network, the district deployed Cisco WLAN controllers and more than 1,000 lightweight wireless Cisco access points in the last year to support PDAs, point-of-sale applications in the cafeterias, wireless projectors and wireless phones for administrators.

 

This solution enables the district to centralize the control and management of its wireless access points, increasing the efficiency and security of its wireless network.

 

"The Cisco network is letting our teachers utilize exciting new educational tools that are really engaging the students," said Bob Burns, network operations manager for the Brevard School District.

 

Brevard's advanced network has fetched the district, the Florida Governor's Sterling Award which is Florida's highest honor for organizational performance and management excellence.

 

Burns said, "We are confident that the Cisco network we've deployed will allow our teachers to continue utilizing educational tool advancements that will bring added value to the classroom and to the students themselves for years to come."