Upgrading A Network

Our school has had the same network setup since its original installation back in 1997. We're still subscribing to DSL and our wait times show that. Though our fundraising committee was primed to raise money for laptops, I had to be the grinch and put a halt to their efforts. The perplexity on their faces told me that they didn't exactly know how to SELL a network upgrade to donors. How do you explain it, other than role playing sitting at the computer, waiting for a web site to come up? Maybe throw some paper airplanes to show what the "dead time" can lead to? That's such an 80s movie cliche. I have to giggle writing it.

Anyway, anyone who has ever attempted such a project knows that there are financial committees to report to, quotes to obtain, presentations to give. It's a lot of work, but it's a whole lot better than spending $50K on laptops only to find that we can't actually USE them on our current network. I thank the AIMS TecGathers and the AISGW Breakfast Roundtables, and all of my colleages at those meetings, for preventing me from making that mistake. You see, some of them have made it first! I know it's not the most compelling blog post ever, but it's where I'm at.

Image Credit: http://www.igniteseattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/445392913_53c13e695d.jpg