CACHEBOX users happy enough to KISU

ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Kampala International School Uganda (KISU) has chosen CACHEBOX to stop congestion from disrupting e-learning in the classroom, without having to pay for more expensive bandwidth.

KISU, a leading international school in Uganda, had high hopes that online learning would enhance its curriculum. However, with connectivity shared with another school, internet access was proving unreliable. KISU’s limited bandwidth was very often congested, leaving users unable to access content quickly enough.

When whole classes accessed the same content, students often found themselves timed out, causing regular frustration. In fact, KISU’s teachers had accepted having poor internet – so they looked to work around it or changed lesson plans completely.

Head of IT Robert Buga knew that more capacity wasn’t a viable option: even one step up in bandwidth is expensive, and likely would not be enough to fix the problem now, let alone support a doubling of devices in the coming years.

Robert tried very hard to maximise KISU’s internet connection. He blocked YouTube access, but teachers found it difficult to manage the curriculum without it. Despite weekly efforts to prioritise content for teachers and block bandwidth-hungry software updates until the weekend, nothing solved the problem.

Not knowing much about caching, Robert contacted ApplianSys for advice. A few days later he was seeking school board approval for CACHEBOX. Dedicated to school needs, CACHEBOX stores and serves masses of school content locally – including video and software updates – dramatically reducing bandwidth need. Caching frees up precious capacity for more content or additional user devices, effectively multiplying a school’s existing capacity.

“Very often three-quarters of KISU’s 200 devices are in use at any one time, causing traffic to peak way above its 20Mbps connection,” says Ilaria Mancinelli CACHEBOX Consultant. “But with CACHEBOX meeting duplicate demand locally, it not only stops congestion occurring, it makes room for e-learning to flourish.”

About
Established in 1993 with 67 students, Kampala International School Uganda has grown steadily to accommodate 460 students representing 60 nationalities. State-of-the-art facilities include three computer labs, smart boards in most classrooms and classroom devices available for student use. Learning is enhanced through cross-curricular projects, development of research skills, an awareness of environmental issues and cultural diversity, of which access to online content is a vital element.