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Stretching from Key Largo to Key West in Southern Florida, the Monroe County School District deployed a new network infrastructure based on the ProCurve Networking Adaptive EDGE Architecture™. After a quick and painless deployment, the district has realized vastly improved network performance, management, and functionality, enhanced connectivity and collaboration, with a significant cost savings.
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Improving network connectivity, functionality, and management can be a difficult chore. The complexity increases significantly when your network needs to spread across 110 miles and numerous islands. Ken St. James, IS Department Program Specialist for the Monroe County School District, was presented with the challenge.
"Monroe County stretches across an elongated area spanning many islands. We therefore have some unique geographical challenges that render network deployment and management rather tricky,” said St. James. “We need a solution that can be easily implemented and managed, offer improved collaboration between teachers, administrators, and students, and does not overextend our budget."
The school district chose a network solution based on the ProCurve Networking Adaptive EDGE Architecture, which provides continuous command from the center of the network reinforcing a secure and robust end to end network solution, with added intelligence at the edge of the network where users connect and policies are enforced. With more than 120 ProCurve Networking switches in place, the Monroe County School District now boasts a gigabit backbone that connects each of its 12 schools and several alternative learning centers. HP ProCurve 5300xl switches provide the core linkage in each school, and HP ProCurve Switch 4100gl series are deployed at the edge. The HP ProCurve Switch 5300xl series layer 2/3/4 chassis switch offers scalable, layer 3 wire-speed switching in a compact 4- or 8-slot modular form factor. The ProCurve Networking Switch 4100gl series are a modular alternative to stackable switches and provide high-performance, reliable connectivity for a growing network like Monroe County’s. Both the Switch 5300xl and 4100gl series are convergence-ready and offer software updates and a lifetime warranty included in the purchase price.*
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St. James described the implementation as effortless. He configured all modules and switches himself and the entire deployment took less than two weeks. “We spent one night in each school, some of which have more than 750 PCs,” he explained. “The entire process was simple and trouble-free, and we were able to implement an entirely new infrastructure without service downtime or school disruption. I was astonished at how easy and fast it was to deploy our HP ProCurve network, especially considering the distance and number of sites we had to cover.”
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Monroe County School District’s HP ProCurve Networking infrastructure has improved network performance and management. St. James is able to manage all switches and solve problems from his laptop, whereas the district’s previous infrastructure products needed to be dealt with from their physical locations. “Although the new products have been performing impeccably, I can rest easy knowing the HP ProCurve Networking switches will email me if problems arise, enabling me to fix them from my laptop in real-time, no matter where I am,” said St. James.
The competitive pricing of the HP ProCurve Networking products have allowed the Monroe County school district to purchase a substantial number of new workstations for its teachers and pass their previous workstations down to students.
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The new HP ProCurve infrastructure has greatly enhanced connectivity and collaboration throughout the school district. A primary reason for this enhancement is the video conferencing capabilities of the HP ProCurve Networking switches. Teachers and administrators are able to use video conferencing for meetings and teamwork activities, reducing travel times and increasing the regularity of intra-district collaboration.
Students are also using the video conferencing capabilities for advanced learning. In one case, classes from separate ends of the district are working together to study Global Imaging System (GIS) technology. The classes are creating GIS maps, sharing their results with each other, developing map overlays, and preparing a presentation for a national GIS conference. The collaboration has spread to include the State of Florida GIS Foundation, Florida State University, and a high school in Chicago also studying GIS technology. “None of this collaboration or innovative learning would have been possible without our ProCurve network infrastructure,” added St. James.
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Monroe County School District’s HP ProCurve deployment has not gone unnoticed. The Florida Department of Education recently conducted a thorough audit of its school districts, inspecting everything from administration, transportation, facilities and technology. The Monroe County School District’s IS department received the highest possible grade for its infrastructure advancements: A+. In fact, it was the only department within the district to receive a top grade.
The reasons cited for the high marks included overall technology value, best practice deployment and standardization, superior network management, and the enabling of advanced technology to students and teachers. St. James is proud of his district’s commitment to technology advancement and the recognition its new network infrastructure has received.
“Monroe County School District’s incorporation of a leading-edge technology vision is a big part of our students’ education, and HP has played a vital role in our pursuit of that vision,” said Randy Acevedo, Superintendent of Schools, Monroe County Public Schools. “ProCurve Networking has been instrumental in helping us: ease network deployment and management, keep our costs down, and most importantly, accelerate our students’ learning through technology.”
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- Centralized network management
- Improved network connectivity and collaboration
- Reduced operational costs
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Hardware
Software
HP services
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Lifetime warranty with next-business-day advance replacement (available in most countries) on most products for as long as the customer owns it *
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Telephone support available during normal business hours
- Technical product support available via e-mail
- Comprehensive network design and configuration services offered at no extra charge
| * | The HP ProCurve Routing Switch 9300m series and Secure Access 700wl series have a one-year warranty with extensions available. |
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