St Paul’s School selects Bridge Point to upgrade wireless network

Brisbane, Australia, 20 December, 2010 – Bridge Point Communications, a specialist network, compliance and information security company, has been selected by St Paul’s School to upgrade its wireless network.

St Paul's School (www.stpauls.qld.edu.au) is an Anglican co-educational schoolbased in Brisbane which educates more than 1,500 students fromPrep to Year 12.

In 2011, the school will commence a laptop program for each student in grades seven and 10. Laptops will then be rolled out to all students over three years.

St Paul's School identified that the existing wireless network would not have the capability to support students in every classroom accessing rich multimedia content. After reviewing a number of options, the school looked to Bridge Point Communications for a solution.

Kent Walker, IT Manager of St Paul's School said, “Bridge Point came highly recommended. We chose to partner with Bridge Point because they showed expertise during the design phase, which gave us confidence in their ability to complete the project satisfactorily. The one to one student-to-laptop ratio is challenging when users are all simultaneously accessing content. However, Bridge Point was able to demonstrate a solution that was up to the task.”

In addition to increasing the school’s capacity to offer a rich learning experience to all students, the solution provides some further benefits. These include the introduction of advanced management software to assist Kent Walker and his IT team to securely manage the environment, and a guest access system to allow visitors to the school – including a large number of overseas students – to be able to quickly and easily access the network.

The chosen Cisco Unified Wireless Network solution from Bridge Point includes a Cisco Wireless LAN Controller and Wireless Control System management software. The school will also be one of the first education providers in Australia to use Cisco’s next generation 3500 access points which include CleanAir technology.

Dave Robbins, Network Technology Specialist, Bridge Point Communications said, “CleanAir helps the network to become self-optimising, self-healing and increases security through dedicated silicon-based radio frequency detection, analysis and response. This will help St Paul’s to provide a reliable service to students, teachers and guests.”