American School of Bombay : American Lessons, Indian Learning

Mumbai-based American School of Bombay is an overseas school catering to the
requirements of Mumbais multi-national community that represents over
forty-five countries and brings together children with varied experiences to
learn in a rich and unique environment.

With a growing number of students and staff using laptops and tablets, the
school has changed to provide quality education wirelessly through a
centralized, easy to manage, easy to control, and low maintenance wireless
network.

Unlike other Indian schools, we do not have any pre-assigned classes for the
middle and high school students, and classes are on rotation basis. So mobility
was one of the key factors for going in for a campus wireless network, says
Mario Fishery, senior IT manager, American School of Bombay.

Apart from the mobility issue, the cost factor was also responsible for a
wireless campus. Since if you are using access points, you eliminate the need to
have cabling inside the classroom and school offices, Fishery adds. The
wireless network is used to provide access to students and staff for emails,
Internet, library, databases, and journals. Currently only Web-based
applications like K-12 (which are pre-approved applications for training) are
offered on the wireless network.

Choosing the Vendor

Before zeroing in on D-Link, the school was using another vendors mix of
B&G networks. However, as problems developed with the network, the school opted
for start access points from D-Link that integrated well with their wireless
projectors.

Security too was one of the primary concerns while setting up the wireless
network since educational resources were to be shared and transmitted over the
network, which included data, video, and voice. Significantly, none of the
vendors were committed over the security aspect so, ultimately, it came down to
the cost factor, says Fishery. For the vendor, D-Link, it was an additional
challenge considering that they had to integrate with the existing campus LAN
network, the 4 Mbps fiber Internet link, and 14 application servers.

The wireless network had to be able to handle the high data load demands from
multiple applications that range from accounts, library, to the student
education software. Site survey was also needed to determine the access point
placement in the thirty-three classrooms to ensure that high-speed wireless
connection was available.

Since the school has an extensive IT network that can sometimes be
complicated to manage, with D-Links unified switch which consolidates features
like access security and centralized administration, the management of radio
frequencies of the distributed APs help ASB manage the increasing overheads
costs as ASB is a non-profit organization.

Benefits

All classrooms, labs, administration offices, library, and other facilities
of the school access the technology resources on the servers through 802.11g
access points. After setting up the wireless network, the wireless laptop and
tablet program has grown and become an important tool in the delivery of the
school curriculum. The usage of proven wireless technology that is stable and
easy to manage is providing wireless coverage in all areas of the campus thereby
allowing our staff to access educational materials easily, Fishery says.

Stuti Das

stutid@cybermedia.co.in