Page 9 - TIME Newsletter - 2019

WIFI BOOSTED TO MEET

RISING DEMAND

In the past few years, portable devices have gained momentum, and
expectations have changed dramatically when it comes to student testing
on WiFi in schools. The IT Infrastructure Department was the first to hear
from high schools planning 400 or more students in a single location. The
number of schools adopting this approach increases every year. As schools
move toward large-scale testing, high density WiFi bandwidth in areas
like gymnasiums and media centers is becoming the norm for high stakes
testing. This was a great challenge for the department, and this has been the
most successful year yet regarding school testing.

The IT Infrastructure Department continues upgrading existing WiFi access
points at schools to a model supporting 802.11ac standards. The newest
access points deliver speeds a dozen times faster with high throughput
supporting networks on the 5 GHz band.
The original design of District WiFi was for classroom learning and classroom
testing ensuring reliability to meet school and state requirements. Over
the last couple years, the requirements have changed to include reliable
WiFi in areas outside the classroom. The rapid growth of usage in an
increasingly WiFi-driven world continues to challenge the department to plan
for additional WiFi capabilities not only from a density standpoint but a more
“blanketed” school approach, as more and more devices rely on wireless
instead of wired technology.

The school district has more than 15,000 wireless access points making
us one of the largest customers of our top WiFi provider. Upgrading 15,000
Wifi access points is not something done overnight, and much of the project
relies on Federal E-Rate funding on a yearly basis. The plan was broken
into four years. All high schools have completed the refresh with all middle
schools planned to be complete by the end of 2019. Elementary schools will
be completed in the following two years.
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