Baldwin-Whitehall School District

Country: United States Of America
Industry: Education
Solution: Digital Age Networking, Digital Age Communications

Baldwin-Whitehall School District located in Pittsburgh, PA serves over 4500 students and approximately 500 staff and faculty across five campuses. The district began its technology curriculum integration initiative just prior to 2020. This program was accelerated when education went online full-time during the health crisis.

The district has been strategic in its IT investments using E-Rate and implementing a consistent upgrade plan.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise switches are rock solid. With the OmniVista Cirrus management we can easily configure and manage them without the need for constant monitoring.

David Green, Network Administrator, Baldwin-Whitehall School District

Challenges

A 2019 topography survey determined student enrollment at Baldwin-Whitehall was projected to increase dramatically in the near term and their outdated network would have trouble addressing this increase. To meet the challenge, Baldwin-Whitehall planned to add a new building and adopt technology across the district driving the implementation of digital platforms, tools and applications as required. This would allow the school to support remote learning and take student education to the next level.

Baldwin-Whitehall took a strategic approach based on continuous upgrades over six years. The network build-out was the foundation supporting other technology projects including a 1-1 initiative serving all K-12 which took place over three years, streaming and video use in learning, and use of Promethean interactive education boards.

Action

Baldwin-Whitehall had an existing Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise telephone system. With an IT/Communications staff of six, Baldwin-Whitehall sought the support of channel partner Communications Consulting, Inc (CCI), who were key in introducing the district to Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® LAN Stackable switches. The OmniSwitch products became vital to creating a solid back-end network, while alleviating bottle necks. The Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6900 is implemented as core gear and is deployed in district facilities as routing gear.

Results

Technical Benefits

Rock solid performance and reliability with OmniSwitches, core to edge
“Set it and forget it” remote management with OmniVista Cirrus cloud-based remote management
Secure MAC authentication and simplified product updates from detailed profiles
VLANs in each building - phone system and surveillance cameras on their own VLANs
PoE deployment across the district
40Gig between buildings with core solutions, enabling multi-gig switching

Financial Benefits

ROI - “ALE technology provides good ROI…the solutions are reliable” -David Green
Baldwin-Whitehall leveraged E-Rate funding for on-going technology investment
Longevity in phones/phone system and integration into modern IP network

User Experience Benefits

E911 capability with ALE phones provides immediate views without network failure
Network performance helps teachers realise new teaching options using new digital platforms
Exceed IT requirements - “ALE products surpass what districts require.” – Dan Dorgan, CCI
Increase productivity- more IT staff productivity with OmniVista Cirrus Management platform