Ballarat Grammar Improves Student Access To Computer Based Learning With Hp Procurve

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4th July 2008, 04:47pm - Views: 843





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News Release








Editorial contacts:


Sebastian Rice

Silverspan

02 9959 1991

seb@silverspan.com


Ballarat Grammar Improves Student Access to

Computer Based Learning with HP ProCurve


SYDNEY, Australia, July 4th, 2008 – HP ProCurve Networking today announced that Ballarat

Grammar has successfully completed a major initiative to improve student access to computer

based learning resources. The project involved the deployment of a major upgrade of network

infrastructure, including the use of 10 Gigabit per second Ethernet technology, and wireless

Internet technology across the entire school campus.


Greg Bell, Head of Technical Services for Ballarat Grammar commented, “We have a small

technology team supporting a large campus environment, so we need equipment that is easy to

maintain and reliable. We have staff and students living on campus, so it is critical that we deliver

reliable services round the clock. Different levels of access to network resources and applications

are required for teachers, administration staff, day students, and boarders.  Under the growing

demands of the School, our previous network solution became unreliable, as well as being

difficult and time consuming to administer.” 


After several years of network instability and poor performance, Ballarat Grammar decided to

migrate their entire campus network to a ProCurve switched Ethernet and Wireless LAN solution.

Trident Computer Services, a ProCurve solution provider, was chosen to assist with the design,

installation, and ongoing support of Ballarat Grammar’s new network. The network was installed

over a one week period in January 2007.


Greg Bell commented further, “If equipment isn’t reliable, we feel the pain immediately in our

budget, as we have to waste precious resources continuously putting out fires. Before we

upgraded to a ProCurve network, we were forced to deal with regular disruptive network device

failures. We are extremely happy with the reliability and support that ProCurve deliver. In our

experience, ProCurve switches deliver rock solid reliability, and have helped us to significantly

reduce our network support costs.”


The solution includes a ProCurve 5400 chassis for the main administration building, with three

large campus buildings each being serviced by a dedicated ProCurve 4200 switch chassis. 


Other locations are serviced by a combination of ProCurve 2600, ProCurve 2800, and ProCurve 

2900 switches. The network solution incorporates the strategic use of 10Gigabit per second

Ethernet fibre links between some locations, ensuring the best possible levels of performance for

the backbone of the network.





A new campus wide Wireless LAN network with automated, centralised management has also

been deployed. ProCurve Wireless Edge Services Modules have been installed into the ProCurve

5400 chassis, and work in conjunction with 90 radio ports spread across the school grounds. The

result is secure, campus wide access to the network, for both students and staff.


The deployment of Gigabit Ethernet technology has allowed Ballarat Grammar to significantly

improve access to computing resources in classrooms. Students are required to login to computers

at the beginning of classroom sessions. Due to the large number of students, there are very large

spikes in demand at the beginning of classes. 


The ProCurve 5400 deployment, and the strategic use of Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, has

allowed a 95% reduction in the typical waiting time for each student to login at the beginning of a

class. Both students and teaching staff now also have secure, controlled access to applications and

the Internet via the campus wide Wireless LAN. The enormous network performance

improvements, combined with the campus wide wireless network, have encouraged lessons that

require the use of computers and given teaching staff more flexibility. 


Greg Bell continued, “Our ProCurve wireless solution has enormously simplified the

administration of our network. We now use 802.1x authentication to automatically control service

delivery across the entire campus. Our old wireless network forced us to manually configure the

security settings for each wireless access point, and generated a huge support workload for our

technology team . With our new network, ProCurve’s management system automatically works

with ActiveDirectory, so we only need to decide once how much network access somebody

should receive, with the system automatically updating settings across the network. Our ProCurve

solution now allows us to monitor resource usage by individuals, so we can charge back costs,

which is important for Internet data downloads by our student boarders.” 



About Ballarat Grammar


Ballarat Grammar  is an independent secondary school based in Ballarat, Victoria. The school

provides a safe, supportive and challenging environment for their 1,350 students and over 200

staff. Approximately 265 students and staff live on the 20 hectare site.


About Trident Computer Services


Australian-owned and backed by three decades of IT experience, Trident are committed to

providing the highest level of customer satisfaction by doing what we do best: delivering the right

solution for your needs to help your business grow. We also work on the philosophy that a good

relationship is equally as important as the services provided.

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About HP ProCurve 


HP ProCurve is the Network of Choice for best-in-class solutions, products and services for wired

and wireless networks. ProCurve’s Adaptive Networks vision enables customers to implement an

open, standards-based network infrastructure that adapts to the changing needs of users,

applications and organizations.


ProCurve was positioned in the Leaders quadrant in research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc.’s

2008 Magic Quadrant Report for Global Campus LANs and is No. 2 worldwide in Ethernet

switch market revenue according to Dell’Oro Group.




About HP


HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual

consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing,

software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with

revenue totaling US$107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008. More

information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.


Note to editors: More news from HP, including links to RSS feeds, is available at





© 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without

notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying

such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be

liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

3/2008



Photography

Photography is available, courtesy of Rob Olston. Please contact Sebastian Rice 02 9959 1991,

seb@silverspan.com .




 







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