Download Flash Plug-in Now at http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Technical Solutions.
Back to School

When Boise's first charter school was approved, its administration and faculty brought along years of academic experience gained in the public school system which would enable the timely and efficientl realization of a vision for a unique K-6 environment.  However, that experience didn't extend to planning, deploying or managing a full-service data network -- details typically dealt with exclusively by district-level tech experts.

Working within a tight budget and around a building remodeling, the task assigned to Enterprise Technology was to provide a complete turnkey data system, from fundamental infrastructure through configuration and deployment of the network operating system, including all client-server services and broadband Internet access, for a staff of eight and a student body of 112.  The initial allocation of workstations included one for each staff and 14 for student and volunteer usage in the classrooms.After installing nearly two miles of cabling and related termination devices, we installed a 3Com SuperStack II 3300 24-port 10/100/1000 switch to serve as the local data communications backbone.

The attractive price of this switch, along with its reputation for durability and performance, made it a logical choice.  Even better, the investment in the switch would be easily leveraged as the school grows, as additional ports and feature-modules can be added, or 'stacked' without having to retire-and-replace this hardware.

For a network operating system, the obvious choice was Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5.   Optimized to provide enterprise-class services while running on a single server (an HP LC3 in this case, graciously donated by Hewlett-Packard), SBS is designed (and priced) to permit up to fifty concurrent connections: just right in this environment.  In addition, we provided and configured a second server running Windows NT 4.0 Server to provide dedicated and secure file services to both staff and students.  A DAT-3 tape drive handles system back-ups, with a pair of UPSs providing power-failure insurance.

All faculty and student workstations have high-speed Internet access via an ADSL service connection, which, at the same time on a single phone line, carries all incoming and outgoing fax traffic, as managed by the business server's fax service.  Internet access is controlled by Microsoft Proxy 2.0, included with small business server.

All student grades and each staff has thier own email address, with all email managed by Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, also part of the small business server suite.  Exchange Server also handles all personal appointments, school scheduling and calendaring, and is the basis for a number of paperless electronic forms and documents which will shortly become part of the organizational forms archive.

For keeping up-to-date while off-campus, we enabled web access to faculty email.  Virtual Private Networking is also in place for the laptop users, who can connect to the school network on campus, or just as easily and securely connect to the school network from anywhere else using a simple, free Internet access account.

With the core equipment and operating system deployed in this case, a startup non-profit educational institution is able to utilize and benefit from a level of services and features usually thought only accessible to larger organizations with much greater capital budgets.  Please contact us if you would like more information on this type of configuration.

Return to Main ...