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Complete solution for three KZN schools

A long record of successfully implemented MiRO wireless solutions across a number of installations undertaken by Netelligent Consulting CC resulted in the award of turnkey contracts for three of Durban’s leading schools – Danville Park Girls’ High School, Westville Girls’ High School and Westville Boys’ High School.

In all three instances it was important to ensure that staff, clients and students have uninterrupted Internet access, Wi-Fi hotspots as well as a wireless security system and VoIP telephony solution on site. This solution entailed the implementation of a variety of wireless technologies from MiRO. The Netelligent team deployed a range of MiRO products (combining Ubiquiti, MikroTik, Vivotek, Sunell and Grandstream) to deliver on this requirement.

Ubiquiti UniFi solutions are used extensively throughout all three schools, with approximately 40 access points at Westville Boys’ High School alone. These are from the UniFi Outdoor, AP-LR and AP-PRO ranges and are powered using managed Ubiquiti TOUGHSwitches for passive PoE (Power over Ethernet). The school has approximately 1800 pupils with the wireless network serving on average 1200-1400 devices on a daily basis. Ubiquiti’s VLAN capabilities in the UniFi product were used to create separate networks for staff, students and guests.

Netelligent elected to deploy Grandstream products due to their superior features. Each product chosen is considered best fit in the particular application and provides superior telephony benefits, coupled with uncompromising technical advisory backup. The proposed VoIP solution offered significant benefits to the school including ease of deployment, superior HD audio quality, a high level of manageability and reporting, and high scalability. A total of 64 phones were deployed by the Netelligent team, using a combination of POE switches for power, and FreePBX for the central PBX administration.

Danville Park Girls’ High School’s employs a BYOD policy and works to integrate tablet devices into lessons. Netelligent has developed several proprietary LAN and intranet technologies to support this strategy. A system of MikroTik routers is used to manage the school’s two fibre-based Internet connections, allowing for quality of service, firewalling, VPN and content filtration.

Neil Skea of Netelligent notes that the combination of MikroTik and Ubiquiti technologies allows a high degree of flexibility and provides a reliable, scalable solution at a lower price point than alternatives. The savings allowed the school to invest in other important aspects of the ICT strategy, including support and reliable Internet connectivity.

Sean Parker, branch manager of MiRO Durban, says that Westville Girls’ High School has a total of 30 Ubiquiti UniFi wireless access points. Coverage is provided campus-wide with provision of access to staff, students and guests. The school also makes use of MikroTik technologies at the gateway, and leans heavily on Grandstream products for the voice services on the network. Westville Girls’ High School has a highly converged network, with video, voice and data all integrated on one platform.

Skea says that the 40-phone solution that was implemented at Westville Girls’ High School two years ago has provided a strong return on investment through a reduction in call costs, maintenance and through ease of deployment through leveraging the school’s ubiquitous IP backbone.

All routing to the Neotel fibre network at the three schools is via MiRO’s MikroTik platform. In addition to providing the schools with superior VoIP and data connectivity, Netelligent has also deployed a number of wireless IP surveillance cameras from MiRO at Westville Boys’ High School and Westville Girls’ High School. A combination of Vivotek and Sunell cameras, together with MiRO’s Milestone platform were used to completely overhaul surveillance at both schools.

“It is very important to us as technology solution providers that the products we select are able to perform according to specification and are able to provide outstanding customer experiences. Our reputation is based on uncompromising quality and service delivery. Our motto ‘Working IT, Living IT, Loving IT’ defines how we approach everything we do. We value our relationship with MiRO and believe that our strong partnership allows us to deliver on our promise of great service to our customers,” Skea concludes.

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