Network Overhaul, who to approach?

[maniac]

Well I've finally managed to get the message through that we need some serious investment in the next 12 months in our network infrastructure in order to carry on the massive ICT expansion planned. Everything's getting a bit old here, and it's all starting to show it's age a bit with more downtime than we want, and lots of patch up repairs to keep things going.

 

We have RM CC3 at the moment, so I've approached RM about upgrading and moving onto RM CC4 as one option.

 

I'm then planning to put together my own quote for an in-house built network purchasing the servers and other required hardware and software ourself and building a network to fit the schools requirements, so that's option 2.

 

I'm then looking for a third option, so I can present a good set of different options to the senior management team. One that springs to mind is Viglen Classlink, but having used this in the past I'm not sure if it would be as efficient on a large network like ours. I also have thought about approaching a local company and seeing what they could offer us, but a lack of experience in education could be an issue here. So does anyone know any other companies that specialise in networks for schools that it could be worthwhile approaching? Also any hints on people to avoid!

 

Many thanks,

 

Miike.

[elsiegee40]

I have a couple of contacts - smaller businesses that specialise in School IT networking in Kent and the South East - who may be of use to you. MUCH cheaper than RM! I'll PM the details Edited October 6, 2008 by elsiegee40

[sparkeh]

I've approached RM about upgrading and moving onto RM CC4 as one option.

 

If you do decide you want CC4 I would seriously wait until the initial kinks are ironed out and the dust has settled.

 

If you are used to CC3 then I think in the long run, CC4 will be quite nice, but I am holding off for a while.

[strawberry]

European Electronique would do something like this. They rebuilt my network

[TechMonkey]

How about a mix. Cabling & hardware in-house/third party but using CC4?

 

We use Logicalis for cabling and they are fab.

[maniac]

How about a mix. Cabling & hardware in-house/third party but using CC4?

 

We use Logicalis for cabling and they are fab.

 

I hear that RM charge quite a lot more to install their system on 3rd party servers? This I will investigate however, because in an ideal world I would like HP proliant servers as their reliability is outstanding.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike.

[bossman]

@maniac:

I wouldn't go down the route of upgrade to CC4 as it has been fraught with problems I would build your separate CC4 network and test all the apps and anything else before a full migration.

I would only involve those third parties to do the minimum required and have your IT team configure the rest to keep the costs down and to have things sorted your way which is to give the end user the best possible package to suit their needs and requirements.

By all means get third parties in to give you quotes and advice but then the decision is up to you and SLT if it involves large amounts of money.

[maniac]

@maniac:

I wouldn't go down the route of upgrade to CC4 as it has been fraught with problems I would build your separate CC4 network and test all the apps and anything else before a full migration.

I would only involve those third parties to do the minimum required and have your IT team configure the rest to keep the costs down and to have things sorted your way which is to give the end user the best possible package to suit their needs and requirements.

By all means get third parties in to give you quotes and advice but then the decision is up to you and SLT if it involves large amounts of money.

 

If we decided to go down the CC4 route, then that's how we would probably do it as our domain name needs to be changed anyway because it's still the old school name from before we became an academy.

 

If I was to build an in-house design, then a bulk of the work would have to be done by myself as the two technicians I have working for me just don't have the skills required (at the moment) to assist much with the actual design of the network. Once we have a functional system I can teach them how to use it with few problems, but both have only had experience of using CC3 and have never worked on a 'vanilla' network, so we have to consider that when making the decision. Money for training will have to be factored in which may not make it as good value as it might be for schools who already have people with the required skill set.

 

I just want to get as many different opinions and quotes from as many places as possible, that way we can make a properly informed decision and hopefully avoid mistakes that I've seen other local schools make recently, and the large amounts of cash that gets wasted in the process.