Alaska caching in from the cold
ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Fairbanks North Star Borough (NSB) School District in Alaska USA is planning to deploy 15 CACHEBOX units across 31 schools to ensure fast, congestion-free access to e-Learning content.
Despite its huge and remote geographic region, Fairbanks NSB keeps learning ‘centred’ on its 14,000+ students through ‘independent learning’ programmes, each demanding fast, responsive access to the internet.
However, when it rolled out school devices to all users and introduced a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scheme as well, web traffic rocketed. Now the district’s two separate 2Gbps internet links are regularly overwhelmed.
A mix of 12,000+ iPads, MacBooks, Chromebooks and Windows PCs were all demanding software updates – leaving the network congested. Slow access to learning content was effectively shutting some schools out of the network, impacting lesson plans.
Aware that caching might help but wary of past experience with ill-suited caches, Director for Networking Services Robert Hingst decided to see if things had changed for the better.
In CACHEBOX, Richard found a schools-focused solution able to cache software updates for all platforms, as well as video, learning content and even HTTPS. Robert immediately ordered a trial appliance.
Deployed in just one school, CACHEBOX has changed Robert’s perception of schools’ caching. In instantly offloading as much as 45% of software updates, congestion has been alleviated. What’s more, in serving vital learning and testing content locally at faster LAN speeds, the classroom experience is many times faster.
“Delighted by the results, Richard has been fully converted,” says Sergio Villegas CACHEBOX Consultant. “So much so, he has already outlined plans to deploy a further 15 appliances, so thousands more students will soon enjoy a faster, responsive user experience.”
About
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District is a public school district based in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA. The state’s second-largest public school district, it encompasses a vast geographic area roughly equal to that of Israel, across which it manages over 14,000 students in 31 campuses. With student-centred learning a core value, the district firmly promotes independent learning through a wealth of online curricula.