Vohkus helped Bishop Fox’s School address service issues to enable successful installation and deployment of a WLAN upgrade supporting 1,000+ seats.
Situation
Bishop Fox’s School is a local authority Academy, occupying a 30 acre (12.1 ha) site centred around a purpose-built block dating from 1994.
The school had an immediate requirement to upgrade its wireless network in the summer of 2016. This was needed to support an increase from 700 to 1,000 seats ready for the September student intake. It had selected Cisco Meraki as the best solution for its needs, and after going through a three-quote process asked Vohkus to supply this.
Improving service quality
Before commencing work on the installation, Vohkus carried out a due diligence exercise to ensure the chosen solution would deliver against the school’s current and future needs. The existing wireless LAN (WLAN) was using seven-year-old technology, and was unable to cope with the higher performance of today’s wireless devices. Critically, Vohkus discovered it had not been configured to provide optimal quality of service; for example, the stage lighting controlled via the WLAN was experiencing delays of up to 40 seconds.
Under these circumstances, Vohkus was unable to immediately ratify the proposed Cisco solution, and instead suggested a two-day wireless network configuration workshop to prepare the infrastructure. An additional problem identified by Vohkus was that the building itself was steel-framed, causing a ‘Faraday cage’ effect that meant new wireless points would have to take this into consideration.
Following this preparatory work, Vohkus was able to commence installation.
Conclusion
Vohkus’s attention to detail before implementing the WLAN solution prevented any impediments to performance and service arising when the new system went live. It was safely installed against Vohkus’s specification.
The new managed network covers public areas, classrooms and outdoor areas across the site, and is capable of meeting current and planned wireless standards – and supporting the school’s business plan – for at least the next five years.