Network Upgrade: Almost Done

The saga is coming to a close. We finally chose a vendor: CTI in Hunt Valley. They were not only the most timely in getting back to us, attentive and professional, but they were quite accommodating about working with us on pricing. We're going Gigabit, people! Woo hoo! We also decided to install a middle school lab--the wireless laptop cart was a failed experiment for our current staff for many reasons, some of which included our failure to provide enough support for those teachers. Even though it may be perceived as a step backwards, it's what our teachers have asked for and what they need. Isn't that my job as technology coordinator? To figure out how to help MY teachers, given their own talents and circumstances? So, it's back to a wired lab. It's still going to be a fully integrated experience, not a "class" that happens outside of curriculum goals. It will simply be wired rather than wireless. That fact alone will increase their desire to use the laptops: no startup time, no sloppy wires issues, no time required to put them back, no problem accessing the network. The actual upgrade will happen this summer.

Upgrading Our Network, Connections and Routers

Our Technology Support Specialist Pavel and I have met with four different companies/contractors in the last few weeks, all of whom have wildly differing ideas on the best way for us to improve our school's network. We currently have a DSL connection. I dunno how we have managed so well this far. Of course, we've had our moments of taking FOREVER to load Web pages when all 18 children in a class are accessing at once. However, we've rarely been down and it does the job most of the time. Our thought was that we should upgrade to a T-1 connection. Almost all of the vendors had thoughts about that:

1. We should have a T-1 with a cable backup.

2. We should have a cable connection with a T-1 backup, or our current DSL backup.

3. We should have just cable.

And that's just the internet connection. I'll have to post another day about routers. I honestly didn't know much about routers before this whole process. I still don't know much about them, but I know that everyone has a different opinion on whether Cisco is worth the time and money, whether Sonicwall is as good, if you can just use refurbished equipment and save tons while losing none of the capabilities. My goodness! And I have until Friday to put together recommendations for the Financial Committee of my school's board. I take comfort in the fact that many have gone before me and they all did the best they could as well.

Image credit: www.nph.com.au

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