Haileybury school revamps wireless with Meru Networks

In August last year, Haileybury embarked on a new pilot technology program that would see over 1,000 iPads deployed, one to every staff member and every student at the Berwick campus from Year-5 to Year-11 and to every Year-9 student across the remaining two campuses in January 2012. If the pilot program is successful, the remaining campuses will roll out iPads to all 3,500 students. 

With new iPads being rolled out, Haileybury had a requirement that their wireless network simply had to perform on day one of the new school year. A critical review of the school’s wireless infrastructure, which was installed 18-months before, was undertaken. The decision was made to replace the previous wireless solution, due to Haileybury’s serious concerns that it would not be capable of supporting either the density or diversity of devices and applications being deployed at the school.

“We did not have the confidence that our previous wireless infrastructure, which was only 18-months old, would support us to implement the school’s technology program. It became evident through our investigative process that the Meru Networks solution would enable us to do this.  Meru has delivered more than what was promised to us – it simply works,” said Charles Lloyd, Deputy ICT Manager at Haileybury.

The solution had to provide complete wireless access for all 3,500 students and staff at the school’s three campuses in Brighton, Berwick and Keysborough. The Meru solution encompassed multiple controllers, 382 access points, Meru’s Network Manager, as well as Meru’s Identity Manager with Smart Connect to manage the surge of wireless devices from students and staff that access the school network.

As part of its technology programme, the school uses a wide range of wireless devices including iPads, iPhones and notebooks, where Information and Communications Technology skills are developed progressively from the Early Learning Centre to Year-12.

“We are extremely pleased to be such an integral part of Haileybury’s technology programme,” said Adam Smith, Regional Sales Manager, Education at Meru Networks. “Our ability to deliver reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi in such dense and diverse Wi-Fi environments makes us a natural choice for schools. Our solutions are designed for simplicity and flexibility and Haileybury School is a prime example that demonstrates our ability to meet the demanding capacity requirements for wireless in school environments. In using Meru’s Identity Manager, Haileybury now also has greater control over their network while at the same time reducing the demands on the IT department.”

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About Meru Networks Meru Networks (NASDAQ: MERU) designs, develops, and distributes virtualised wireless LAN solutions that provide enterprises with the performance, reliability, predictability and operational simplicity of a wired network with the advantages of mobility. Meru Networks eliminates the deficiencies of multichannel, client-controlled architectures with its innovative, single-channel, virtualized network architecture that easily handles device density and diversity. Meru wireless LAN solutions are deployed in major vertical industries including Fortune 500 businesses, education, hospitality, healthcare and retail supply chain. Founded in 2002, Meru is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Visit www.merunetworks.com or call (408) 215-5300 for more information.