Education

Colleges, universities, and primary and secondary schools are using technologies such as gigabit ethernet, wireless connectivity, and IP telephony to invigorate lessons, improve communications, automate administrative processes, safeguard important resources, and enhance the learning process.

Consolidation of software contracts, office automation tools, data centers/computer rooms, servers, storage and networks to provide enhanced performance and access to data. Demand for consolidation will increase as educational institutions seek to reduce operating costs.

To accommodate today's applications and the demand for robust bandwidth, schools are replacing the 10 megabits per second (Mbps) hub in the wiring closet with 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, or 10Gbps or even 40Gbps ethernet switches.

Though much has been made of the freedom and mobility of wireless connectivity, its benefits go well beyond the basic luxury of "anytime, anywhere" network access, giving staff and students additional mobility and flexibility to teach and learn in new ways.

These bandwidth management solutions use deep packet inspection (DPI) technology to reliably identify high-bandwidth applications such as P2P file sharing. Decisions can be made to prioritize important applications around Web browsing, e-mail, and VoIP to guarantee a quality experience for users even when the traffic load is high.

Network managers will increasingly consider a multi-tiered priority approach that enables improved Quality of Experience (QoE) for interactive and real-time applications. The multi-tier bandwidth management model - with optional per-subscriber allowances for high-bandwidth application traffic - tends to be more effective than simple volume-based or flat-rate pricing models.

Implementation of comprehensive and integrated systems throughout the network infrastructure, regardless if data is "at rest" or "in motion," is required in order to meet student privacy mandates (HIPAA, etc.).

Colleges, universities, and primary and secondary schools are using technologies such as gigabit ethernet, wireless connectivity, and IP telephony to invigorate lessons, improve communications, automate administrative processes, safeguard important resources, and enhance the learning process.

Administrators often spend hours on the road visiting school sites or attending seminars and meetings at the district office or at remote locations. IP video conferencing solutions enable educators to remain at their school site, while conducting interactive sessions or meetings with educators located at school sites across town or at the district office.

These IP-based phones utilize the network for communications to the classroom. In addition to simple voice communications, this technology also enables the use of IP-based speakers so that administrators or security personnel can broadcast messages over classroom speakers.

Enables first responders and security personnel to locate the source of emergency callers and can simultaneously notify the front office or security personnel if there is a problem.

Cloud services are a wide range of hosted services and solutions that migrate content stored in the data center on campus to hosting environments on the Internet. In addition to serving up e-mail and calendaring, campuses are now storing video content such as lectures, performances, panels, and student content off-campus using iTunes and YouTube. Universities are implementing secure "private cloud" services as well as a Public/Private hybrid architecture for storage and computing that combine on-campus data center resources for some, private cloud services for others, and even open public cloud resources for some types of content.

Nearly 700 college and university presidents have signed up to go green. One trend for reducing campus carbon footprints is the move to the cloud. Cap and trade, and/or some kind of carbon regime, is emerging on the fast track. Several recent initiatives contributing to reducing campus carbon footprints include investing resources to virtualize more of the data center infrastructure, monitoring the power usage of the network and computing infrastructure on a more granular scale, and embracing a campus-wide commitment to go green through purchasing policies.

Use of daylighting strategies can illuminate a facility with natural light and reduce a school's expenditures for artificial light. Facilities that are insulated properly can get by with smaller and less costly heating, cooling and air-conditioning systems. Computer systems to manage and optimize the use of these strategies will be in demand.

While the challenge of breakthrough science remains as important as ever, the absence of an integrated national cyber infrastructure (network, datacenter, endpoints, etc.) planning framework serves as a limit to the nation's compute resource future. The $100 billion in federal stimulus funds that have been allocated to universities and research labs around the country could be the impetus for scientific renewal and advancement, and the actualization of plans for the next generation cyber infrastructure.

Photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to save energy with the use of solar power are being carried out with renewed interest in both existing schools and new school construction. Look for opportunities to integrate the control of these systems into overall school management systems.

Enables schools to protect networks from potentially infected or insecure devices. These solutions scan student PDA's, laptops or other IP-enabled devices to ensure their "health" prior to granting access to the network.

K-12 schools don't typically provide e-mail accounts to their students, but this is a very common practice in higher education, where e-mail filtering is increasingly important for purposes of monitoring for personal threats.

As mobility and Internet access increase, demand is increasing for solutions to block objectionable content while allowing useful tools and content to be accessed by students.

Credit card companies and processors now mandate that organizations processing credit card data, including higher education institutions, certify their compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). HIPAA guidelines for health record privacy also apply in the educational setting.

IP camera video feeds may be monitored by campus or local police departments to provide rapid response in emergency situations.

Positions passive radio frequency identification tags with fixed readers at strategic points throughout the campus. A management console provides a visual as to where the asset is located on a floor plan. Reusable tags will be key for controlling costs.

Visitor management via a combination of simple sign-in/sign-out requirements, and building key card access technologies to allow-disallow access to certain classrooms or buildings.

Will be integrated with building control systems to support surveillance policies and procedures.

Different types of assets require the collection of different sets of information. For example, the data set required for books and consumable materials varies from the data required for a maintenance van or power washing unit. The variety of data sets translates into many types of forms to manage, so customization capabilities are critical.

Classroom multi-media presentation systems help teachers as they conduct their lessons, and they also help students hone their own presentation skills. Large-screen LCD or LED projectors and full-room sound systems with Internet access will become standard teaching tools.

Laptops can be cumbersome to carry in addition to a student's books. Small, easy to carry mobile devices such as iPhones or PDA's loaded with useful applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc.) are becoming the norm in higher education environments and will soon become more accepted in the K-12 educational environment.

The use of wireless networks enhances the overall learning environment by providing teachers, students, and administrators with new mobility options in the classroom and on campus. This supports creative learning environments inside and outside of the classroom and enables teacher/administrator to have real-time communication to resolve student and/or administrative issues.

This enables first responders and security personnel to locate the source of emergency callers and can simultaneously notify the front office or security personnel if there is a problem. By enabling rapid response to an incident or injury, administrators can ensure that students will receive rapid response from medical personnel.