IT Illiterate - Need Hardware - Help
New funding is being released with the Government in the Education Sector, in particular the National Secondary School Computer Fund, now is an opportune time to Place your schools hat in the ring for the Government Capital Grant of up to 1 Million Dollars Per School.
This capital Grant is in addition to the previous Grants that are in place for the education Sector that are mainly for the building of new classrooms. The new National Secondary School Computer Fund is designed to provide computers for every student from Years 9 to 12 in the classrooms.
”Terrific”, you say, “where do we sign up.” Before you do you need to take a step back and do your homework before hand. The government is not going to hand out the dollars to your school unless you have a plan. You need to know the following. What you have at the moment. What you need? How you are going to put it in place?
This is for those readers who are in charge of IT resources but have little IT background. Before you start to pull your hair out because you have no idea where to start, have a coffee and then keep reading. Ultimately you need the help of a IT company that will listen to you and help you with putting together an action plan while at the same time maximize the bang for your buck.
This may take several forms ranging from the one man band IT Consultant to the larger companies who send out teams of consultants. The Price for their services will also vary greatly. You have more than likely had a bad experience previously with another company and you are dubious about the next step. Here is what you need to do.
Step 1 - Look at what you have at the moment.
This will range from the computers you may have in the computer room through to the more expensive hardware you have behind Locked doors. (this will be the switches, Routers, servers)
If these items are 2.5 to 3 or more years old you will need to put some serious thought into replacing them.
Step 2 - Have a rough Idea of what you Need
In today’s market you can purchase servers with a lot more computing power and have the capacity to handle the roll of multiple servers. (This will mean you end up creating what are called Virtual Machines on the one server).
As there will be a lot more digital homework and not all students will have computers at home. Laptops may be a better option. This means that there are a lot more benefits for the students but may result in more damaged returns to the school. Make sure that the overall purchase includes a Sturdy laptop Carry bag. One that will protect the Laptop from rainy days bumps and the like. If the laptops are confined to the classroom then consider how to store them away so that they will be protected in event of Fire flood or theft. Enquire about the insurance policy for hardware replacement. What are you covered for and what are you not covered for.
You can also set up what are called thin clients (these are the equivalent of dumb terminals that connect to the main server and recover the settings of the user from the server and all applications.) This will result in more space in the classroom either under the desk or on top of it due to not having bulk computer boxes there.
There are also Workstation Blade Servers as well. This looks like a server but run multiple compact computers from the one location. You still need thin clients but they work by allowing the user to log onto the thin client and are then allocated a computer to work on from the Server. It is similar to the “Thin clients” but means that in the event of a theft fire or flood that the expensive part the computer itself is safely behind locked Doors. This will be fine unless the above mentioned events occur in the server room.
Consider Storage as well. With a lot more students using the computers in the school you will need a lot more space. Implementing a Storage Area Network (SAN) or Network Attached Storage (NAS) will also be worth while. When implementing the above SAN or NAS you will need to make sure that it will be Scaleable (that it can be upgraded and have more storage capacity added easily.) This should be as simple as having a Technician replace some parts of the main unit or adding an additional rack of disks (also known as blades).
Make sure that there is at least a 3 year warrantee. Most will offer only 1 year, be sure to ask for 3 years. This will cover you should the hardware fail. (This can be expensive to replace so it makes sense to have it covered.)
Also look at the backbone of the school. By this I mean the main computer cabling that runs through out the school itself. It may be high time to consider running Fiber Optic Cables or setup a wireless network to each of the main classrooms or sections of the school. These will need the equivalent network cards for the servers but you can then at the class room level revert to the CAT5-E cabling.
Wireless. This may also be worth while considering as it can ultimately mean less outlay for network Cabling. It will also mean that you will need to make sure that it is very secure from unauthorized access. It can also have signal strength that will vary which means trouble with workstations connecting to the network. So make sure that there is good overlapping from the various wireless hotspots.
The old cabling network. Unless this is already experiencing problems, or you need to remove it to make way for the new network, keep it in place and have it as a back up incase your primary network fails. This will at least mean that you can keep things moving more slowly rather than have it all come to a grinding halt. Make sure also that it will work as well with the new Items on the network as well.
Step 3 - Speak to friends Who you trust.
Talk to a few people who you trust, WHO KNOW MORE IN RELATION TO IT, but do not have a stake in the end product. That way you know that the advise you receive will be impartial.
Step 4 - Engage the services of an IT company.
Now that you have gotten to this stage. You should be better equipped to ask more of the right questions.
If you are dealing with an existing company that you trust and you KNOW not THINK that they look after you then stick with them. If you are unsure or you don’t have an existing company, then start looking around. Ask some of the other schools IT managers. Meet some of the sales reps. Go with one that you feel comfortable with.
Tags:
advice, digital education revolution, it consultant companies, national secondary school computer fund
Posted at: 08:44 AM | Add Comment
