For most education authorities, getting their schools online is the first step in a comprehensive e-learning plan.
The goal on day one may simply be to improve students’ familiarity with the online tools used in the modern workplace, perhaps as part of ICT lessons. But further down the line, education authorities will want to take advantage of more e-learning techniques, online lesson management and student performance testing tools.
Whatever the ultimate goal, classroom connectivity requirements are likely to grow faster than the typical 5 year lifecycle of an appliance.
ApplianSys has been well placed to learn how schools and learning environments grow over time and has designed EDUGATEBOX to offer a carefully considered upgrade path as schools’ requirements evolve.
Easy upgrade
Available in two models that cater to different traffic levels, upgrading to the larger appliance couldn’t be easier. EDUGATEBOX stores all its configuration data on CF card, so it’s a very simple, quick task to eject it from the old appliance and insert it into the new one.
Future-proof modular design
As needs continue to grow, ‘dedicated’ functionality may become preferable to multi-function. However, EDUGATEBOX will be ready. Its multiple services can simply be switched on and off independently. So if a school outgrows a particular function, there will be no need to replace all of them. EDUGATEBOX even incorporates simple tools to help connect new dedicated appliances as and when they are needed.
Add caching capacity
As schools increase their use of online content in the classroom, they typically find that internet speed, as well as rising bandwidth demand, becomes the key challenge. EDUGATEBOX features simple caching which stores and serves web content from within the LAN, improving classroom access speed dramatically while lowering bandwidth.
As schools connect more than 150 devices or start to deal with more than 50Mbs of traffic, additional capacity and capability is readily available. Deploying a feature-rich, dedicated CACHEBOX will provide the greater storage capacity and increased processing power needed to keep the latest e-learning programmes fully optimised.
Education authorities will likely have a need for all-in-one devices like EDUGATEBOX at some sites and dedicated caching appliances at others. An ApplianSys consultant will help you determine which solution is best for each situation.