Budget of £70k to spend but on what?

[rpain]

School with pupils aged 3-13 with 2 main servers, about 70 desktops/laptops of differing specs and most with xp pro, gigabit networking throughout and ad hoc wireless routers. Most smart boards in good condition. What would you spend the money on if it was available (I doubt a pay rise is an option) - Virtual desktops? I read another post of someone with £3k to spend and the suggestions were really good but with a big chunk of money I've been getting quite excited about the option of everyone having virtual desktops with faster load up times (depending on the server hardware).

 

Richard

[glennda]

You could do VDI and keep the existing desktops, all depends on what applications you are trying to then run.

 

If you have ad-hoc wireless i suggest full campus wide solution.

[zag]

I'd buy low power workstations all around. A Managed wireless system and virtualise the servers.

 

Maybe a few ipads for teachers as well.

 

Could create a new network with that kind of money.

[crc-ict]

Sounds like priorities might be wrong if there is £70k allocated to spend with no particular purpose for it.

 

Of course, there is plenty of value you could do with the money, but it's a lot to spend on anything without an identified need for it.

[mavhc]

Managed wireless, windows 7

[rpain]

I agree to a certain extent. I'm just interested in where people think the future of computing in education going - I doubt we'll see this kind of budget again for a long time so really I just want to future proof our setup as best possible while the funds are available.

[Millgate]

New switches, wireless, possibly server & or desktop refresh. It's the right time of year to be doing it (if you are planning it before xmas). A lot of vendors will give some awesome discounts in December!

[glennda]

I agree to a certain extent. I'm just interested in where people think the future of computing in education going - I doubt we'll see this kind of budget again for a long time so really I just want to future proof our setup as best possible while the funds are available.

 

invest in the infrastructure fully managed switches, full managed wireless (I'm a Meraki fan) once that is in place then the future is adaptable to any kind of device unless somebody changes the way wireless works/ehtrrndt works!

[GrumbleDook]

Invest in a conslutant to help you spend the money! My rates are reasonable (well ... to me they are!)

[Dos_Box]

NetSupport has a very good offer on NetSupport DNA at the moment: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/network-classroom-management/104370-netsupport-dna-schools-special-offer.html

[AgnosticAdvice]

It all depends on what you have and where you want to be

[tech_guy]

iPADS!

[X-13]

iPADS!

 

For skeet shooting?

[synaesthesia]

Wrong place to be asking, I think. You'd need a meeting with the relevant people at the school (heads, governing body) to find out where they would like to go. Of course it's good to have some suggestions, hence this thread, but ultimately any goals should be coming from them. It doesn't have to be technical at all - it just has to be "what we see our pupils doing with IT, how it could help them in their education, how it could help them maybe at home (cloud based resources perhaps)"

 

You've got this £70k now. But will you have anything to show for it in say, 3 to 5 years? You could turn that entire network around and help futureproof it for around 20. That still leaves 50 big ones to allocate. Choose wisely, otherwise in Indiana Jones' metaphorical world, this could be you (my apologies if you don't understand/recognise the reference):

http://www.benjamingran.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/the-10-grossest-indiana-jones-moments-where-does-crystal-skull-rank218023536.jpg

Edited December 13, 2012 by synaesthesia

[squeeky]

If your running xp and you have a large sum I suggest starting to think about new hardware and software in terms of laptops, tablets and desktops also looking at your projectors etc

[apeman]

Why do you want virtual desktops??

 

Maybe we could have bit more information about your school.

 

 

Building

 

Rough size and construction type

 

Infrastructure

 

Do you have any fibre runs?? If so what type and how far are the runs?

What type of cabling do you have for data outlets cat5/5e/6/6a?

What switches do you have??

 

Servers

 

What are they used for?

How much storage do you have/need??

Where are students and staff files saved?

Do you have your own email services?

What is your backup solution?

 

Phone System

 

Is this under your control??

If so what model?

How many phones

 

Desktop/Laptops

 

Spec

What applications are used??

Are there mobile classrooms? Or are laptops only for staff use?

 

 

 

 

Anymore information would be useful to help us help you

[DavidScott]

I'd be looking at the infrastructure to give the site a solid base - once the network and wireless has been brought up to standard then I'd be looking at what the pupils and teachers will be using. For the age group I'd be looking at something robust (ipads will shatter if dropped) so maybe a convertible netbook? Slots straight onto the Windows domain and stands a chance of making it if it gets knocked or dropped. They're good value these days and you could perhaps buy a class set and move them around in a charge trolley?

 

Have a look at this one Classmate 2S and a trolley from Laptop Security | Compucharge Limited | UK Laptop Storage solutions

 

Good luck

[twin--turbo]

What problems are they suffering?

 

Rob