Colleges/MATs - Thoughts on 1:1 Laptops & Ubiquiti

[michaelf]

Morning everyone, I'm hoping those of you working in colleges or larger MATs may be able to offer your thoughts, insights or general expertise. We're a large FE College with around 20 different campuses and circa 25k students; there's a few project ideas which have been suggested and I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who's done something similar at this larger scale.

 

The first is the rollout of a student 1:1 laptop scheme. This has been suggested as a way to better manage our device refresh especially with the upcoming need to retire large volumes of devices which aren't supported for Windows 11. It also has the potential to act as a recruiting tool and improve digital engagement, especially in certain demographic areas.

 

The second is moving our switching and WiFi estate to Ubiquiti. Their price point makes them a compelling proposition, but there are also concerns about EOL policies, support and functionality when it comes to dynamic routing protocols, ACLs and other advanced features that are needed in some areas of the network. Ubiquiti also doesn’t seem to operate via the traditional reseller/partner model, making it harder to compare with traditional vendors which our suppliers and partners recommend.

 

At the moment both are still in the ideas phase, so any input good, bad, or ugly would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Edugeek!

[mbedford]

IT Manager for another FE College here (14000 students, 4500 devices)

 

I have always shy'd away from 1:1 devices, especially for students. The ratio in my opinion doesn't work. What happens when a student forgets the device? the obvious solution is to have a bank of spares available, but how many, how do you track them etc... I am much happier sticking with desktop PC's in the classrooms and staff rooms. Also there is the useful life to think about. A modern ish PC with SSD\NVME drives, 8-16GB RAM and 500GB disk should be lasting at least the length of a standard 5 year warranty if not more (IMO a realistic age is probably 5-7 years) Laptops.... lets be honest, 5 years is asking a bit much for a laptop, the battery would probably be toast if not other components. So you are going to have to up your refresh cycle from every 5 years to every 3 which is going to add costs.

 

Talking of costs. A decent laptop nowadays, minimum of what... £500-700. I would expect a PC of the spec i mentioned above to be nearer the £350-550 mark. So on top of your increased refresh cycle, also increase unit costs.

 

I know, cost isnt everything, and 1:1 may end up working for you, but IMO its expensive for not a huge, if any benefit.

[gszech]

Morning everyone, I'm hoping those of you working in colleges or larger MATs may be able to offer your thoughts, insights or general expertise. We're a large FE College with around 20 different campuses and circa 25k students; there's a few project ideas which have been suggested and I'd be grateful to hear from anyone who's done something similar at this larger scale.

 

The first is the rollout of a student 1:1 laptop scheme. This has been suggested as a way to better manage our device refresh especially with the upcoming need to retire large volumes of devices which aren't supported for Windows 11. It also has the potential to act as a recruiting tool and improve digital engagement, especially in certain demographic areas.

 

The second is moving our switching and WiFi estate to Ubiquiti. Their price point makes them a compelling proposition, but there are also concerns about EOL policies, support and functionality when it comes to dynamic routing protocols, ACLs and other advanced features that are needed in some areas of the network. Ubiquiti also doesn’t seem to operate via the traditional reseller/partner model, making it harder to compare with traditional vendors which our suppliers and partners recommend.

 

At the moment both are still in the ideas phase, so any input good, bad, or ugly would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Edugeek!

Our UniFi handles all our school devices and pupils/guests mobile phones (around 2373 devices connected daily) without problems.

They do sell their devices via resellers, we got ours from SystemActive with quite a large discount.

They also offer a warranty in the UK where they will just send you a replacement unit and collect faulty one free of charge.

Check out UniFi cloud hosting - this might be good for your 20 different campuses.

 

 

As for 1:1 my suggestion is to visit some schools and ask a lot of questions (mainly about insurance). 1:1 is not as good as it seems.

[michaelf]

Thanks Both, that's really useful feedback. I'm very much trying keep an open mind on both ideas, but the issues mentioned around 1:1 are very much on my mind especially given our student numbers. If anyone has tried this and it worked, or indeed didn't work I'd love to hear more!

 

Regarding UniFi, are you using any routing protocols such as OSPF or ACLs? I also wonder if you've gone for hosted cloud keys or on site?

[gszech]

Thanks Both, that's really useful feedback. I'm very much trying keep an open mind on both ideas, but the issues mentioned around 1:1 are very much on my mind especially given our student numbers. If anyone has tried this and it worked, or indeed didn't work I'd love to hear more!

 

Regarding UniFi, are you using any routing protocols such as OSPF or ACLs? I also wonder if you've gone for hosted cloud keys or on site?

 

We use the whole UniFi portfolio (Firewall, CCTV, Phones, Switches, APs, Cast) across our trust. Dream Machine hosts our network appliances, UNVR - CCTVs. We looked at Official UniFi Hosting plan which was released last month in the UK (don't' confuse with Cloud Key) which is ideal for large business that just want UniFi network devices - this can manage up to 1000 devices. Ideally you need the UXG series gateway for the above to unlock all missing network options.

https://uk.store.ui.com/uk/en/pro/category/all-cloud-keys-gateways/products/unifi-hosting

There are some rumors that UniFi will release an upgraded version of Dream Machine soon, which would be ideal for secondary schools.

 

If you are only using network appliances from UniFi you're missing out on all the advanced L3 / firewall functionality.