More Education All-Stars

Introduction WINNERS BY INDUSTRY Education | Financial services | Government | Healthcare | Manufacturing | Transportation | Hospitality | More WINNERS BY TECHNOLOGY Applications | Convergence | E-commerce | Management | Security | Servers | Storage | WAN | Wireless Download complete list of winners John Gallant on being an All-Star

CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

• Project lead: Philip Brody, CTO
• Technology focus: Convergence - VoIP

This Las Vegas school district has undertaken a massive IP telephony project aimed at placing a phone in every classroom to improve parent-teacher communication and school safety. Ultimately, the $32 million project will entail 27,000 phones at 317 sites, providing a standard set of features and E911 across the network. Clark County School District expects to save $1.5 million to $2 million annually in administrative and operational costs vs. the spending required for a Centrex alternative. With help from Verizon, CCSD built the VoIP infrastructure on top of a Gigabit Ethernet WAN using Alcatel's OmniPCX Enterprise IP phone system.

COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY

• Project lead: Ahmed El-Haggan, vice president of IT and CIO
• Technology focus: Convergence - VoIP and wireless LAN

In a multifaceted, $1.5 million project, this Baltimore university deployed a converged IP infrastructure supporting all voice, data and video applications over a secure Gigabit Ethernet backbone. A campuswide wireless LAN (WLAN ) supports indoor and outdoor mobile access. Coppin State has loaded up "smart classrooms" with audio, video, computer and other tools that it can centrally monitor and manage. Should equipment be removed from one of these classrooms, facilities managers are immediately notified via their wireless 802.11 phones. The university uses Nortel gear, including its Ethernet Routing Switches, the Threat Protection System, switched firewalls, VPN gateway, application switches and CallPilot for unified messaging. Coppin State says the network transformation has helped it boost enrollment and land new grants and financial support from alumni.

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA

• Project lead: Bob Westall, executive director, technology services
• Technology focus: Convergence - Optical Ethernet infrastructure, IP telephony

An optical Ethernet backbone is enabling the School District of Philadelphia to meet its new "Every Child is Connected" initiative. Powering the network are Nortel's Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 and Ethernet over SONET through Resilient Packet Ring on an Optical Metro 3500 SONET platform. IP voice calls pass onto the optical backbone via IP PBXs connected to the Ethernet switches. The SDP has connected its 264 schools, delivering 1,000 times the bandwidth previously available. The SDP now provides in-class videoconferencing, streaming video, virtual schooling and voice messaging, among other applications. In addition, students can connect from home, teachers can support real-time, online exams and grading, and parents can access online student records. SDP has invested tens of millions of dollars in the network. It expects to recoup the cost within three years.