meraki cs alvin isd
C A S E S T U DY | E D U C AT I O N
Alvin Independent School District “I really think Meraki is the optimal solution for an environment with a high density number of clients.” John Wilds, Network Manager, Alvin Independent School District Challenge
Results
School district has limited budget for wireless networking
Affordable solution results in wireless coverage for entire district
High client density, with entire classrooms connecting simultaneously
Self-healing mesh network provides coverage during cable failures
Closely placed APs must not interfere with each other Huge number of APs to deploy before start of school year
Cloud based RF optimization eliminates interference in high density classrooms Enterprise Cloud Controller enables low-maintenance, centralized management for 20 campuses Nearly 600 Meraki MR14 APs deployed by student helpers
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
technician. Before the 1:1 rollout, the network team spent three months manually reconfiguring all of the APs to ensure identical configurations. To support the wireless access for the Netbooks across five campuses, Wilds and Stewart wanted centralized management, 802.11n speed, no interference between closely placed APs, and a minimum capacity of 30 simultaneous clients per AP. And, as a school district, cost was a “huge consideration,” Wilds said.
4,400 new netbooks requiring wireless connectivity Alvin Independent School District (ISD) covers 250 square miles in Brazoria County, Texas. Its two high schools, five junior high schools, and thirteen elementary schools serve approximately 17,000 students and utilize over 2,000 staff members.
Originally we planned to only provide wireless to our 1:1 schools. But with Meraki’s affordable pricing, we were able to do the entire district. The district’s 1:1 project for junior high means that every sixth, seventh, and eighth grade student has a handheld computing device in the classroom. Replacing the paper and pencil model, students at Alvin ISD read, write, solve problems, and get feedback from teachers through these devices. This year the district upgraded its technology, offering every junior high student an HP Netbook.
Wilds and Stewart considered simply upgrading the existing HP system, but testing revealed band steering problems— automatically “steering” 802.11n-capable devices to the 5Ghz spectrum—that they were unable to solve. They also evaluated solutions from Motorola, Aruba, and Meraki. Motorola’s complexity and Aruba’s expense made Meraki’s cost-effective, plug-and-play solution immediately appealing. However, Wilds initially had concerns about the offsite controller. “But once I understood that the AP continues to function even if it can’t communicate with controller, that alleviated my concern,” he said. Now he says he appreciates the low-maintenance centralized management that Meraki’s browser-based Enterprise Cloud Controller affords. Meraki’s mesh functionality also surprised Wilds—in a good way. “We could tell Meraki was a whole different kind of product from the initial setup, when the Meraki representative stacked ten APs on top of each other and started doing the configuration. I
That works out to 4,400 HP Netbooks across the district. “We knew our wireless system wasn’t going to support the demand this initiative would generate,” said John Wilds, Alvin ISD’s network manager. “Last year was pretty successful with the 1:1 project, but it was definitely taxing for the wireless.” Alvin ISD was running HP Procurve with approximately 530 HP access points (APs), one per classroom. Because most of the APs were single-radio 802.11b/g HP420s, the HP Netbooks were limited to g speed, and high client density across campus caused problems with connectivity. The APs also had to be managed individually—a time consuming project, said Jacob Stewart, Alvin ISD’s wireless network
19,000 students and teachers across 20 campuses
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
said, ‘What are you doing?’ because I expected serious channel conflicts, but he told me they’re designed to work like that.”
right in the old system that they could fix with this new system, and sent them out to do it,” Stewart said. “It was that easy.”
To test the throughput of each solution, Wilds and Stewart prepared two rooms with one AP and 90 HP Netbooks in each and then imaged all the Netbooks. “On pure density hitting back to two APs, Meraki was the best performer,” Wilds said. “It’s nice to know it’s possible to run 180 Netbooks off two APs with no problem.”
Wilds said that Meraki’s unique self-healing architecture has given him new insights into his network. For example, the day after bringing one campus online, he noticed in the Cloud Controller that some of the APs were working as mesh repeaters rather than running in gateway mode. When he investigated the problem, he found approximately 50 cables that needed to be reterminated.
Alvin ISD purchased the Enterprise Cloud Controller License and 771 Meraki MR14 APs—enough to replace all the existing APs, improve weak coverage areas, and offer coverage to campuses that never had it before, including two campuses still under construction. “Originally we planned to only provide wireless to our 1:1 schools,” Wilds said. “But with Meraki’s affordable pricing, we were able to do the entire district.” Deployment took less than three weeks. Once Stewart realized how easy the AP installation was, he hired student helpers with no formal training to do it for him, giving him time to work on other projects. “I showed them what I wanted, explained what wasn’t
“The Meraki APs were diagnosing our bad cables for us,” Wilds laughed. “How long were our old APs running on bad cables and we never knew it?” Wilds and Stewart say that the beginning of the school year is normally the most stressful time in managing the wireless network—but not this year. “We’ve spent no time at all on wireless issues, and we’ve had no complaints about laptops not connecting,” Wilds said. “The way the APs mesh together and coordinate to get the best signal instead of competing with each other is a huge benefit. I really think Meraki is the optimal solution for an environment with a high density number of clients.”
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
Alvin Independent School District “I really think Meraki is the optimal solution for an environment with a high density number of clients.” John Wilds, Network Manager, Alvin Independent School District Challenge
Results
School district has limited budget for wireless networking
Affordable solution results in wireless coverage for entire district
High client density, with entire classrooms connecting simultaneously
Self-healing mesh network provides coverage during cable failures
Closely placed APs must not interfere with each other Huge number of APs to deploy before start of school year
Cloud based RF optimization eliminates interference in high density classrooms Enterprise Cloud Controller enables low-maintenance, centralized management for 20 campuses Nearly 600 Meraki MR14 APs deployed by student helpers
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
technician. Before the 1:1 rollout, the network team spent three months manually reconfiguring all of the APs to ensure identical configurations. To support the wireless access for the Netbooks across five campuses, Wilds and Stewart wanted centralized management, 802.11n speed, no interference between closely placed APs, and a minimum capacity of 30 simultaneous clients per AP. And, as a school district, cost was a “huge consideration,” Wilds said.
4,400 new netbooks requiring wireless connectivity Alvin Independent School District (ISD) covers 250 square miles in Brazoria County, Texas. Its two high schools, five junior high schools, and thirteen elementary schools serve approximately 17,000 students and utilize over 2,000 staff members.
Originally we planned to only provide wireless to our 1:1 schools. But with Meraki’s affordable pricing, we were able to do the entire district. The district’s 1:1 project for junior high means that every sixth, seventh, and eighth grade student has a handheld computing device in the classroom. Replacing the paper and pencil model, students at Alvin ISD read, write, solve problems, and get feedback from teachers through these devices. This year the district upgraded its technology, offering every junior high student an HP Netbook.
Wilds and Stewart considered simply upgrading the existing HP system, but testing revealed band steering problems— automatically “steering” 802.11n-capable devices to the 5Ghz spectrum—that they were unable to solve. They also evaluated solutions from Motorola, Aruba, and Meraki. Motorola’s complexity and Aruba’s expense made Meraki’s cost-effective, plug-and-play solution immediately appealing. However, Wilds initially had concerns about the offsite controller. “But once I understood that the AP continues to function even if it can’t communicate with controller, that alleviated my concern,” he said. Now he says he appreciates the low-maintenance centralized management that Meraki’s browser-based Enterprise Cloud Controller affords. Meraki’s mesh functionality also surprised Wilds—in a good way. “We could tell Meraki was a whole different kind of product from the initial setup, when the Meraki representative stacked ten APs on top of each other and started doing the configuration. I
That works out to 4,400 HP Netbooks across the district. “We knew our wireless system wasn’t going to support the demand this initiative would generate,” said John Wilds, Alvin ISD’s network manager. “Last year was pretty successful with the 1:1 project, but it was definitely taxing for the wireless.” Alvin ISD was running HP Procurve with approximately 530 HP access points (APs), one per classroom. Because most of the APs were single-radio 802.11b/g HP420s, the HP Netbooks were limited to g speed, and high client density across campus caused problems with connectivity. The APs also had to be managed individually—a time consuming project, said Jacob Stewart, Alvin ISD’s wireless network
19,000 students and teachers across 20 campuses
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
said, ‘What are you doing?’ because I expected serious channel conflicts, but he told me they’re designed to work like that.”
right in the old system that they could fix with this new system, and sent them out to do it,” Stewart said. “It was that easy.”
To test the throughput of each solution, Wilds and Stewart prepared two rooms with one AP and 90 HP Netbooks in each and then imaged all the Netbooks. “On pure density hitting back to two APs, Meraki was the best performer,” Wilds said. “It’s nice to know it’s possible to run 180 Netbooks off two APs with no problem.”
Wilds said that Meraki’s unique self-healing architecture has given him new insights into his network. For example, the day after bringing one campus online, he noticed in the Cloud Controller that some of the APs were working as mesh repeaters rather than running in gateway mode. When he investigated the problem, he found approximately 50 cables that needed to be reterminated.
Alvin ISD purchased the Enterprise Cloud Controller License and 771 Meraki MR14 APs—enough to replace all the existing APs, improve weak coverage areas, and offer coverage to campuses that never had it before, including two campuses still under construction. “Originally we planned to only provide wireless to our 1:1 schools,” Wilds said. “But with Meraki’s affordable pricing, we were able to do the entire district.” Deployment took less than three weeks. Once Stewart realized how easy the AP installation was, he hired student helpers with no formal training to do it for him, giving him time to work on other projects. “I showed them what I wanted, explained what wasn’t
“The Meraki APs were diagnosing our bad cables for us,” Wilds laughed. “How long were our old APs running on bad cables and we never knew it?” Wilds and Stewart say that the beginning of the school year is normally the most stressful time in managing the wireless network—but not this year. “We’ve spent no time at all on wireless issues, and we’ve had no complaints about laptops not connecting,” Wilds said. “The way the APs mesh together and coordinate to get the best signal instead of competing with each other is a huge benefit. I really think Meraki is the optimal solution for an environment with a high density number of clients.”
| 415.632.5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, Inc.Inc. | 99| Rhode Island St. 2 nd Francisco, CA 5800 | www.meraki.com Meraki, 660 Alabama St.,Floor, SanSan Francisco, CA94103 94110| 415.632.
