|
Accrington & Rossendale College
BACKGROUND
Accrington and Rossendale College
* in the UK provides high quality education and training for thousands of people each year throughout Hyndburn, Rossendale, the Ribble Valley and beyond.
CUSTOMER NEED
Many of the college's buildings dated from the 1950s, and were struggling to cope with students' learning requirements. To deal with this, the college decided to construct an entirely new campus in a £16m government-funded project. As part of the work to create more advanced teaching and learning facilities, the new buildings would house the latest in robust networking technologies.
Simple management of this new network was fundamental, as was Quality of Service to support future convergence. To find the right solution, the college conducted a rigorous tender process involving some of the best-known suppliers in the marketplace.
NORTEL SOLUTION
Nortel was the chosen technology vendor, and they designed a completely new voice and data backbone, built into the fabric of the new buildings.
Firstly, the college chose a range of Nortel
Ethernet Switches
to form the new data backbone. Those switches at the core of the network were arranged in clusters, to give the college very high levels of resilience and prevent any single point of failure.
Additionally, Nortel delivered its leading
IP PBX
and a number of
IP handsets
. This enables the college to make a gradual move to voice over IP, whilst vastly reducing network complexity.
RESULTS & BENEFITS
-
An extremely reliable network
, which has been highly available since day one
-
Enhanced teaching and learning facilities
through innovative network-based learning tools such as streaming video
-
Intelligent buildings management
to save the college time and costs through networked IP CCTV and heating systems. Staff are now investigating an intelligent door access system
-
A path to cost savings
through the clever new facilities that run over the converged network, the college can save costs
RELATED LINKS
| 
