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12 Responses to “Hastings Boys High School Set for Upgrade”

1. 

   Rod Drury
   12:07, 07.12.2009

   I’ve been following this closely.

   A large amount of what is currently being spent in schools are big structured cabling projects. We’re talking several hundred grand.

   As NetBooks arrive over the next year I wonder if any local schools are planning broad wifi type deployments. I’m sure that schools will have to do wifi anyway so it leads to the questions:

   - Is wifi now good enough for the majority of internal school needs? (sure some specialist labs may still need cable)
   - Is a wifi topology significantly cheaper?
   - Are these structured cabling projects the best use of money?
2. 

   Marcus Smith
   15:09, 07.12.2009

   Rod, you raise some good questions and I tend agree with you.

   I was visiting Southwell School (Hamilton) last week and noticed every student at the school is required to have a mininote laptop. This is the way all schools are moving, regardless if they are private or public. Public may however not have every student with a mininote but a least have a pool of laptops students will want to use from any location with the school campus.

   So I will have a crack at answering your questions:-

   - Is wifi good enough?
   Yes! However not all wifi devices/solutions are built the same. As always with cheap equipment comes cheap results. There are some very well developed and extensively implemented wifi solutions in the market right now.

   - Is a wifi topology significantly cheaper?
   In my opinion yes. Sure the up front cost may not be “significantly” cheaper and in some case more expensive but you have to look further than the initial upfront costs. Wifi is designed to be scalable and adaptable which I have absolutely no doubt will result in a lower total cost of ownership long term.

   - Are these structured cabling projects the best use of money?
   I think it is very important to have a solid fibre backbone to any large network and for corporate office spaces sure a structured cabling solution may be the preferred option, however I think all education institutes should definitely be looking to invest in the wifi arena ahead of structured cabling solutions.
3. 

   Ben Deller
   15:25, 08.12.2009

   I think schools should be deploying Wi-Fi in tandem with a managed cabled network. Dont get me wrong, Wi-Fi is great (especially in “802.11 N” guise) but it is just no substitue.

   My experience with Wi-Fi access points with many clients (20-30) connected is that the performance drops off very quickly. and so you need a whole bunch of access points to provide anywhere near the performance of a cabled network.
4. 

   Marcus Smith
   21:56, 08.12.2009

   Ben – Have a look at Xirrus – http://www.xirrus.com/
5. 

   Jennine Crofts
   09:56, 09.12.2009

   Hi Rod, Marcus and Ben

   I am the BDM at Kalooma Technologies and we are the distributors for Xirrus in NZ. Rod we met at the Small Business Expo in the HB just a few months ago and I had a Xirrus WiFi array on show. Xirrus can definitely deliver on high density wifi requirements, schools being just one great example of this kind of requirement. Check out these video press releases from Australian schools that have gone down the Xirrus path after trialling a number of vendors. Monash University in Melbourne have also just chosen to deploy Xirrus in their lecture theatres and other campus areas with high density requirements.

   http://www.xirrus.com/press_releases/?id=290
   http://www.xirrus.com/press_releases/?id=284

   Yes traditional WiFi architecture ie single AP’s will struggle to cope with density requirements of a normal school classroom, say up to 30 students. Xirrus is a unique WiFi architecture with anywhere from 8 to 16 radio’s per single array, directional antennae’s, stateful firewall and controller all onboard a single array, it means far less cable drops for the school ie a much lower cost to deploy, easier to manage etc…

   thanks
   Jennine.
6. 

   Rod Drury
   17:39, 09.12.2009

   Cool. Those case studies look great.
   Are you engaged with MinEdu?
   Do you have a NZ reference school yet?
   Are you seeing costs savings or is it more for the same money you get a wifi network as well?
7. 

   Arron Edwards
   09:33, 18.01.2010

   Hi Rod,

   We met a while back at an Auckland Software Developers evening. I dropped you back to your hotel with the guys from Digital Fusion. Great to see Xero is going from strength to strength (I’m playing with the API between projects).

   We’re working with Kalooma down in Tauranga and have a large reference school here (Mt Maunganui College – http://www.mmc.school.nz). We operate their network in conjunction with their own onsite IT support.

   The school presently has ~1300 students and close to 100% WiFi coverage.

   It’s very cost effective provided it’s setup correctly to start with. The solution we used there is a mixture of Xirrus and Bluesocket. This allowed the new wireless network to replace the existing while still giving capacity to add new AP’s as required. As Bluesocket isn’t just a wireless solution, it allows physically cabled filtering as well it’s an ideal solution for boarding houses, hotels, conference facilities and airports.

   Wellington Airport (the free one requiring just your email address – the name escapes me now) uses and older Bluesocket solution but still delivers a controlled Internet connection well.

   The new funding from the MinEdu (MoE) will allow for wireless equipment to be used where it’s prohibitively expensive to install cabling. Xirrus is proven to deliver in this area with high density usage (we’ve used these at conferences with ~300 delegates with the only problem being the hotel’s Internet connection – not fast enough!).

   Mt Maunganui College are happy to have visitors to check out their network. Easiest way is to contact me via our website so I can arrange this.

   Arron Edwards,
   Totali Limited
8. 

   Matt Miller
   10:27, 18.01.2010

   thanks Arron
9. 

   Matt Miller
   10:49, 18.01.2010

   superb
10. 

    Jennine Crofts
    14:09, 18.01.2010

    Hi Rod

    Yes we are engaged with the Min Edu, as are most other wireless vendors…. Arron has kindly offered a reference school for you, of course there are others, let me know if you need more. I believe you can see cost savings by deploying a WLAN. Imagine one or two cable drops to deploy a couple of Xirrus arrays to cover 3 to 6 classrooms, versus cabling so that every student could be connected via the wire…
    Cheers
    Jennine.
11. 

    M Lee
    21:18, 27.01.2010

    Hi, I’ve just come across this site while research wifi and read your posts with interest. I am a local resident and I’m interested in the development of wireless communications in Hawkes Bay. I was wondering if anyone had looked into the ramifications of this technology for our children’s learning abilities and their long-term health? It seems ironic to fill our schools with technology that – if you read some of the studies that have been done overseas – is actually damaging to our children’s health and wellbeing. I was just wondering if anyone had looked into this aspect of wifi and if anyone may be open to reconsidering the ‘necessity’ of such technology given its ill effects long term?

    Thanks -
    M Lee
12. 

    Matt Miller
    09:53, 28.01.2010

    A bit of perspective would probably help here.

    At a guess, I think the long-term effects of wi-fi radiation would pale into insignificance when compared to the effect of children sitting at a computer or watching TV for 12 hours a day instead of getting the appropriate amount of physical exercise and face-to-face social interaction.

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