District-wide Unified Wired and Wireless Network Will Support 65,000+ Mobile Devices and Connect 142,000 Students and Staff
Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARUN) today announced that Prince George’s
County Public Schools (PGCPS), the second largest K-12 school district
in Maryland, is deploying an Aruba Mobility Defined-Network to support
more than 65,000 mobile devices, including 16,000 iPads the district is
rolling out to classrooms. The district plans to connect all 204 of its
schools, 20 administrative and maintenance buildings, and even school
bus lots, to the new Aruba network.
During the past three years, PGCPS has experienced a massive increase in
mobile devices – both personal and district-issued – across its schools
and district buildings. The district has moved away from having its
schools use traditional desktop systems in computer labs to, instead,
issuing Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices such as laptops, tablets and iPods
for students to use in the classrooms. PGCPS has also seen an influx in
personal mobile devices or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), with staff and
teachers, in particular, wanting to use their smartphones and tablets on
campus and in administrative buildings. Simultaneously, the district has
moved from paper-based to electronic communications and has sought to
reduce costs and improve efficiencies by using mobile devices for
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) related tasks, safety and security
applications and even in its maintenance department for work orders.
With this new focus on mobility district-wide, PGCPS sought a new
network infrastructure that was capable of handling its new and growing
requirements.
PGCPS turned to Aruba to provide the reliable, high-performing wireless
and wired infrastructure the district needed to accommodate both current
and future mobility needs. With the assistance of partner and
integrator, Lanier Electronics Group, Inc., the district is deploying a
combination of 200+ Aruba Mobility
Controllers, more than 15,000 access points, Aruba
Mobility Access Switches, including power-over-Ethernet (PoE)
switches for the district’s voice over IP (voIP) implementation, the AirWave
Network Management System and ClearPass
Access Management System with Aruba
AirGroup for managing Apple services and Bonjour traffic.
BYOD, in particular, is an important area of growth for the district.
According to Wesley Watts Jr., Chief Information Officer, Prince
George’s County Public Schools, the district already enables teachers
and staff to connect their personal, mobile devices to the network, but
will be looking to formalize its BYOD initiative for both district
employees and students once Aruba’s ClearPass is in place. “BYOD is one
of the key reasons we selected the ClearPass solution,” he added.
Continued Watts, “Mobility has become critically important to our school
district. Whether in the classroom to support learning tools, in our
administration building to facilitate teacher and staff communications
or for use with ERP applications like purchase requisitions and timecard
submissions, the network is mission-critical to the efficient and
cost-effective operation of our district. Given how quickly our mobility
needs have grown – including the exponential growth of mobile devices in
our district, finding a network infrastructure that could grow with us
became a priority. Aruba was the only vendor that could truly satisfy
our current and future needs.”
Watts noted that the new Aruba network is enabling the district to
better utilize the 16,000 iPads they’ve rolled out for classroom use.
Teachers and staff who were used to printing from their older computing
devices ran into obstacles when trying to print from the iPads. In
addition, the district wanted teachers to be able to use the iPads in
conjunction with Apple TVs to project their screens in the classroom. By
deploying Aruba ClearPass and, specifically, its AirGroup capabilities,
the district has found a solution that will allow teachers and staff to
effectively use the iPads, print from them and project their screens for
improved classroom learning. AirGroup automatically identifies users and
groups, based on their roles, devices and/or locations, to ensure that
each user can access the specific printer, projector or TV needed
without paging through extensive lists. Once ClearPass and AirGroup are
in place, the district plans to put 200-300 Apple TVs into its
classrooms. PGCPS is also in the midst of several pilot deployments
using a variety of laptops and tablets, including Google Chromebooks and
Amplify tablets, and is evaluating 1:1 initiatives in its middle schools
and high schools. All of these devices, powered by the Aruba network,
will be used to deliver new voice, video and virtual desktop
applications in the classrooms.
The Aruba network is also enabling PGCPS to adopt a wealth of new and
beneficial applications and programs. A family portal application,
developed by the district, allows parents, students, teachers and
administrators to check students’ schedules, grades and attendance via
mobile devices, as well as traditional computing systems. School
administrators can use their mobile devices to perform evaluations and
spot checks, as they walk through school hallways and into classrooms.
In addition, the district is using the network for online PARCC
(Partnership of Readiness for College and Careers) testing that is
compliant with the new Common Core curriculum. The district expects
nearly 85,000 students will be taking multiple assessments online every
year once PARCC is fully implemented.
The new network is also critical to enabling one of PGCPS’ unique
programs which allows its high school students to take a series of trade
classes and obtain technology certifications in areas like systems
engineering and programming. The district maintains three technology
distribution centers for its own networking and computing equipment,
co-located with the high schools, so students can have hands-on
experience in the centers with diagnosing, troubleshooting and repairing
equipment. The program has been a huge success for the district with the
391 students enrolled this school year expected to earn nearly 200
different certifications. For PGCPS, the ultimate goal of the program is
to give these students added skills that will make them more competitive
whether they choose to attend college or go directly into the workforce.
Additional Resources:
Video: Mark Turner, Director of Technology Operations & Telephone
Services and Wiring, Prince George’s County Public Schools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REiS-neEJDo&feature=youtu.be
Airheads Social: http://community.arubanetworks.com/
Social Media Channels: http://www.arubanetworks.com/company/socialmedia/
About Aruba Networks, Inc.
Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access
solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company designs and delivers
Mobility-Defined Networks that empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a
new generation of tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for
every aspect of work and personal communication. To create a mobility
experience that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined
Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and
trigger security actions that used to require manual IT intervention.
The results are dramatically improved productivity and lower operational
costs.
Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in
Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas,
Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. To learn more,
visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter
and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
© 2014 Aruba Networks, Inc. Aruba Networks’ trademarks include Aruba
Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized), Aruba
Mobility-Defined Networks™, Aruba Mobility Management System®, People
Move Networks Must Follow®, Mobile Edge Architecture®, RFProtect®, Green
Island®, ETips®, ClientMatchTM, Virtual
Intranet AccessTM, ClearPass Access Management
SystemsTM, Aruba InstantTM,
ArubaOSTM, xSecTM,
ServiceEdgeTM, Aruba ClearPass Access
Management SystemTM, AirmeshTM,
AirWaveTM, Aruba CentralTM,
and “ARUBA@WORKTM. All rights reserved. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Aruba Networks, Inc.
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Director of Corporate Communications
pradda@arubanetworks.com
OR
LSH Communications for Aruba Networks
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
Principal
lhultin@arubanetworks.com