Tasmania's Scotch Oakburn College has resolved years of frustration with its campus-wide wireless network by deploying a Colubris network controller and intelligent access points. Read on for the full Scotch Oakburn College case study.

Organisation Name
Scotch Oakburn College

Industry
Education

Executive Summary
Scotch Oakburn College, like many schools throughout the country, has used wireless technology since 2003. However, as the number of concurrent notebook connections increased, the college became increasingly aware of the limitations of consumer-grade wireless devices.

In January 2007, Scotch Oakburn resolved years of frustration with its campus-wide wireless network by deploying an 802.11n-ready Colubris network controller and intelligent access points. From day one, the Colubris wireless local area network operated faultlessly, repaying the capital investment in less than six months.

Business Problem
Tasmania’s Scotch Oakburn College had experienced frequent problems with its wireless local area network since it was deployed in 2003. Consumer-grade wireless access points often became congested when more than a handful of notebooks connected to them, disrupting classes and distracting teachers.  Scotch Oakburn is an independent co-educational school in Launceston, Northern Tasmania, with about 1200 students from Early Learning to Year 12.

Wireless networking is an important facet of the college’s operations. It has 420 computers in its campus-wide fleet, of which 30 per cent are wireless devices, including many Dell and Acer notebooks. This total includes about 36 “floating” notebooks that are used by students in the new senior centre. At the college’s Penquite Campus demand for wireless access can attract as many as 100 students and teachers at any one time, which created massive headaches for the school and its IT staff when access points could not cope with the load.

Scotch Oakburn Head of ICT Services Chris Laycock said the college had experienced considerable frustration with wireless technology since 2003. “As the number of concurrent notebook connections increased, we became aware of the limitations of lower-specced access points,” he said.  

“There’s almost a tipping point that occurs with domestic or SOHO wireless devices. In the school situation, we had so many occasions when after six to eight notebook connections, the access points would stop working, which created a lot of disruption.

“Our core business is working with young people in a learning environment, so every minute is important. There was a cost to productivity for students because classes were delayed waiting for laptops.”

The catalyst to review Scotch Oakburn’s wireless infrastructure occurred when the college commenced a $12.5 million development program including its new Robert Dean Senior Student Centre. “Our requirement was simple,” said Mr. Laycock. “We wanted a wireless system that was going to work faultlessly, seamlessly, from the day the building was commissioned.”

Technology Solution
Scotch Oakburn commenced investigations into wireless alternatives in late 2006 by raising the issue with local technology supplier ComputerCORP, which introduced it to the Colubris technology. A one-day trial in October demonstrated that Colubris was both easy to set up and operate and offered the robustness to handle the demanding environment at the college. ComputerCORP was awarded the $20,000 contract in November and undertook the Colubris deployment in January 2007 as part of the fitout of the new Robert Dean Senior Student Centre.

The Colubris equipment comprised an MSC 5200 controller and 12 MAP-330 access points, located in plastic housing boxes hidden in the building’s walls. Each access point is equipped with dual radios, set to the 802.11g protocol, which further reduces the risk of congestion.  A major benefit is that the Colubris controller is already capable of running the 802.11n wireless when it is ratified. All the college needs to do is deploy n-capable access points.

Mr. Laycock said the challenge of the project was it had to work from day one. “This is vital when you support hundreds of notebooks within a school,” he said. “The building was developed over the Christmas period, so there was no room for extensive testing. The new network operated without a hitch. When the students walked in, they took wireless notebooks off the trolley and everything worked perfectly.

“The beauty is that purchasing the Colubris managed wireless solution wasn’t that much more expensive than our previous gear. We built it into our leasing infrastructure and we’ve had absolutely faultless performance since.”

Business Benefits
Mr. Laycock said the Colubris equipment had delivered an immediate cost-benefit to the college. “It saved as much as 35-40 per cent of the capital outlay through not having to buy replacement units or additional units to fill black spots,” he said.

“The payback, in the case of avoiding lost learning time, has been phenomenal. There’s also an immense saving in time through not having to diagnose problems. From a management perspective, it is a huge benefit to have the confidence that it will work from day one.

“I’d estimate that it had already paid for itself within the first six months.”

Mr. Laycock said the reliability of the Colubris wireless access points was just one benefit of the new equipment. “The big bonus is the intelligence of the Colubris controller, which allows us to monitor who is connected at which wireless access point,” he said. “The value of this device is that it provides intelligent control for managing multiple access points, handling all the usage issues to ensure there is no overload.”

The high reliability of the Colubris network has greatly simplified network and peripheral use for teachers moving between their offices and classrooms. Teachers with Dell notebooks can use a “hot docking” facility to easily interchange between using the wireless network and the wired network, which provides access to interactive white boards, data projectors and sound systems.

Mr. Laycock said the stability and adaptability of the Colubris wireless network had opened up new opportunities for the college. “We are now looking at deploying a wide range of portable devices in the near future,” he said. “With more mobile phones containing WiFi connectivity, any handset running Windows Mobile 5 will have the ability to read and send email and browse the web throughout the campus.

“The Colubris technology also provides us with a straightforward migration path to the 802.11n protocol when it is ratified.”

Technology Partner
Mr. Laycock said schools were unique places for using technology. “Many vendors which specialise in corporate sale don’t realise the difficulties that schools face,” he said. “Any one individual computing device can be used by up to 40 different people in one day, running as many as 10-12 different applications. That makes it very difficult to diagnose when something does not work.

“One of the reasons for the success of this project was our local vendor, ComputerCORP, which had a trusted relationship with Colubris Australia. Colubris provided us with loan equipment for evaluation as well as onsite support. We were amazed by the support they provided us and even more so that the equipment has worked faultlessly.

“The wireless problems we experienced from 2003 are not uncommon in the Australian education sector, so the success we’ve experienced with Colubris has generated a lot of interest.”

About Colubris
Colubris Networks is the leading global provider of intelligent wireless networks (WLANs) for enterprises and service providers. Its optimised WLAN switching systems deliver unmatched bandwidth efficiency, seamless mobility and secure, easy access for more than 1,500 organisations and 40 million users worldwide. Its systems unify and integrate with existing network infrastructures, security and management systems and provide “future-proof” investment protection as standards evolve and user populations grow. Colubris’ numerous recognitions include Red Herring’s top 100 private companies in North America, Fierce Wireless Fierce 15 and Mobile Trax Mobility Award. For more information, visit Colubris on the Web at www.colubris.com.

About ComputerCORP
Incorporated in 1987, ComputerCORP has become the ICT solutions partner of choice for many large companies and organisations throughout Australia. With our Head Office in Perth and State offices in Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Regional offices in Bunbury and Launceston, ComputerCORP is able to deliver outstanding IT services and solutions throughout Australia. ComputerCORP has grown significantly over its 20 years with revenues of $145 million accrued in 2005/2006.  More information about ComputerCORP is at www.computercorp.com.au.