Wireless - Wi-fi installation earns top marks from school

Pennine Telecom has gone to the top of the class at Denton West End Primary School following the “fantastic” installation of a Meru wireless network.

According to IT Technician David Cole Pennine’s service was worthy of the “outstanding” commendation awarded by Ofsted inspectors to the 480 pupil school in Tameside, Greater Manchester

Recalling the company’s implementation of a managed wi-fi network he said: “The installation was fantastic to be honest. Pennine have experience of working in schools and were obviously very aware of how different things are to offices. The engineers knew to work around the children, that they wouldn’t be in at lunchtime so they could go in classrooms and install the access points (APs). They also understood that they couldn’t just take the network down at the drop of a hat.”

The installation followed a three-way tender won by Pennine after Mr. Cole approached value-added distributor, Siracom. He had already decided to opt for Meru which he saw as ideal for West End having seen it in use at another school. “Meru is perfect for education because you can run 30 or 50 netbooks from just one access point so it will simultaneously support a classroom full of pupils. The educational environment is different because you have so many people all coming in, sitting down and logging on at the same time. It’s the capability and coverage which was the main reason I chose the system. Meru works.”

He also points to cost benefits over another major manufacturer’s product and the ease with which the Meru wireless networks may be expanded. “You can just add another AP and it will automatically integrate with the Meru controller whereas with another architecture you would, for example, have to build in an SSID. That process can get quite messy as APs ‘talk over’ each other.”

The installation of a managed wi-fi network is quite unusual for a primary school but Mr. Cole was keen to ensure access was being provided right across the school. His motive chimes with the outstanding grade given by Ofsted for its ‘capacity for sustained improvement.’  Mr Cole’s vision was that ICT not simply be a slot in the timetable but something which informed activity across all teaching and learning. “We have an ICT suite but the obvious benefit of a managed wireless network is that pupils can also now use computers in the classroom, nursery, library, anywhere. They can employ ICT on a cross-curricular basis, using a computer to do English, Maths, Science or whatever. It embeds it in the curriculum.”

Mr. Cole also awarded a gold star to Pennine account manager Ian Taylor who oversaw the project. He was impressed with the speed with which he contacted, visited, specified and quoted him for the job. “Ian called within a couple of hours of me contacting Siracom, was here the same day, did a site survey within two days and quoted the same week,” he enthuses. “In contrast after three weeks I was still chasing another supplier simply for them to contact me! Pennine stood out from the start.”

Denton West End is the latest educational institution to benefit from Pennine’s wireless networking expertise. The company created England’s first school community wireless network to serve student households of Bury’s Broad Oak Sports College and has also installed a Meru wi-fi system at Bolton College and Motorola wireless network at Rochdale’s Hopwood Hall.