Jimbo

We just need card readers because we take hundreds of photos a day and teachers always loose their cameras usb cables. We have 512 of RAM currently so I'd definitely up it to a gig.

Hi all, My school is 2 years into a three year lease for our windows XP network. Come September I’ll need to make a decision about “upgrading” hardware and maybe moving over to Vista. Does any one think this is a good idea? My options are as follows: 1. Stick with what we have, put an extra stick of RAM and a card reader in all the existing machines and hope they tide us over until Sept 2011. (After all they run XP fine, in 2011 we get our BSF building and new kit) 2. Lease an entire new set of machines running Vista. 3. Lease an entire new set of machines running XP. I’m drifting down this route as it gets us new hardware but lets us stick with a reliable OS. Cheers, Jimbo.

Yep, just seen the topic below on the same subject. Thanks Geoff...

Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent, affordable, good quality, economical networked colour laser... Cheers in advance, (budget is about £400 - £450. J.

lol, Great stuff.

I'll probably get a bloody banana!

I agree, thanks for the advice. As much as I'd love to detail exactly how our needs need to be met, I now understand thats not how it works. I need to detail our requirements and the MSP will decide how best to go about it. Oh joy.

I have had a chance to play with various UMPC's and the new Eee PC but I have not come across a mobile device that is suitable for students with severe special needs. IE most of our students. The ammount of SEN peripherals we have attached to our PC's makes for a very messy and cluttered IT suite but never the less a functional one and one that (currently) meets the needs of our students. Anyway, according to Becta a wireless setup is supposed to compliment, enhance and add flexibility to LAN. To my mind at least, ridding our schools of ICT suites is a very bad idea. There is nothing wrong with making the technology mobile; as long as it's applicable to the student and proper support is taken into account. Anyway, back on track...Is anyone prepared to share their IT spec document?

I think that having plasmas/LCD's are a step up from Interactive white boards. Reasons being: No shadow, no bulbs, no maintenance or changing filters and no need to keep calibrating the IWB, better picture and future proof with full HD resolutions. Current disadvantages are high one off cost (5K for a 50 inch touch plasma) where as you can get a full 76inch IWB for about 2.6 K in the southeast.) As regards our IT suites or lack of them and what we get instead I have no idea. I will be fighting the idea to rid us of IT suites tooth and nail.

The following is an example of the level of detail in all sections. Sadly I'm told that we are not having IT suites which is a total joke, but if we were... A set number of computers (to be defined) A dedicated colour printer A defined ratio of touch screen PC's. (to be defined) Height adjustable desks. (we need to define heights) A wall mounted minimum 50 inch touch plasma or LCD display capable of full 1080p resoultion. The 50 inch touch plasma or LCD display will be wired to at least four wall mounted speakers in the four corners of the room. The "session leaders" PC will have either a HD-DVD Drive or a Blue Ray player. This is dependent on which HD format wins the current (2007/2008) format war. The "session leaders" PC will have the facility to be controlled via a wireless keyboard and mouse. The range of these control devices must cover the entire ICT suite. All monitors in the suite will have at least a 22in display, with a 1,680 x 1,050 maximum resolution. The physical size is necessary due to the sometimes physical nature of our student's disabilities. All PC's in the ICT suite will be equipped with a dedicated PCIE Graphics card which shall be considered mid range in 2011. The card will have a minimum of 512 MB memory. All PC's in the ICT suite must be equipped with a selection of SEN hardware (to be defined) All PC's in the ICT suite must be equipped with an integrated front facing universal card reader. PC's should exactly replicate a 2011 home PC setup in terms of functionality and basic Hardware. EG CPU Box, monitor, keyboard and mouse. A method of secure but accessible cable management is required to maintain a neat ICT suite and to keep wires and cables out of reach from students. Each workstation must have a dedicated and appropriate storage drawer for storage of Headphones and any other peripherals. Wireless connectivity of all peripherals must be considered but its implementation will depend entirely on the reliability of the technology, acceptable (needs to be defined) battery life and student usability issues. Each PC will have its own dedicated pair of headphones "Session leaders" must have the ability to show their display onto all other monitors and replicate their audio on the audio of all other suite PC's. "Session leaders" must have the ability to show any PC's display and audio on the touch plasma or LCD display and connected wall mounted speakers. "Session leaders" must have the ability to temporarily lock all PC'S displays and audio collectively or individually. All PC's in the suite should have video conference facilities from a fixed camera and microphone with the option of a mobile camera with integrated microphone for the benefit of PMLD students. A range of mobile devices must be able to quickly (time to be defined) show their displays on the 50 inch touch plasma or LCD display through a method of wireless connectivity. EG A teachers laptop must be able to wirelessly show their display on the 50 inch touch plasma or LCD. What do you all think? Can you imagine this level of detail accross all areas of IT throughout a school? I'm guessing that most decisions about what we are getting have already been made but it will be fun to wave this document around and say.."Hang on there...I asked for all this!"

I agree with most of the flack that BSF is taking and I fully recognise that I am contributing towards a process which will ultimately cost me my job and most likely not deliver exatly what we need. However, I must play the cards I have been dealt. That means for the rest of the duration of my school employment I must do a professional and thorough job and do my best to make BSF work for my school from the point of IT. Weather I succeed in that is another matter, hence my ask for a look at other peoples specs...

@ danIT... Would you care to expand on that please?

It's crunch time and I'm part of the team that needs to fill out our school ICT output specification. That document gets merged with all the other LA's schools specifications and that final document, along with our strategy for change goes to the bidders. My understanding is that this is a crucial document in terms of getting what we want when our building opens so I'm asking if anyone has a sample or a draught of theirs they could post? (Not so I can steal ideas but to get a better idea of levels of detail and language) Thanks in advance, J. Oh yes, forgot to mention, we have a deadline of about a month!

It is true that it would be preferable to have the same personnell on site all the time. I know loads of companies locally that have special needs experience, although I do admit that they normally treat us like another school. It's always up to me to remind them of our very specific needs for example when installing stuff. I.E additional Health and safety issues regarding our students that they might neglect in a comphrensive.

Its true, special school have a load of non standard kit that we normally pay through the nose for. As I said in a previous post its imperitive we keep this sort of setup because its designed to facilitate the students learning. It's ok for mainstream to have PC's and IWB's dotted around but in specials we probably have about 10-15 non standard bits of kit in each classroom for everyday use. If a managed service company has no experience with special needs hardware will they subcontract to a company who does?

A helpdesk system?? Thats plainly a bad idea. When teachers kit does not work the last thing they want to do in the middle of a lesson is spend 10 minutes on hold, read out serial numbers, model numbers and then (I'm sure) be asked to do basic troubleshooting. What they do want is a direct line to a tech or IT manager who can be there in 2 minutes to normally fix the problem straight away.

But there must be a role for an IT Manager, who is going manage the vast amounts of kit onsite and lisase between the school and service provider?

I have recieved assurances from my head that it is his intention to keep me on the school books and not have me TUPED. Weather or not that happens is another matter because i'm not sure the decision is his to make. I guess it depends on the terms of the service contract.

Thats the most inefficent system I have ever heard of. It's 2007 and I cannot believe that schools would enter into such a red tape filled nightmare of a support contract. I worried that that heads are bedazled by the promise of Millions of pounds (and who can blame them) but are not looking into the real detail surrounding these managed service contracts. My main concern is that the needs of my students will not be met as we enter into a contract with a corperate giant with no hands on experience of children of complex and severe special needs. Charged to change a mouse!!!! WHAT???? Has the world gone mad?

"you need to be aware that it's nowhere nearly as bad as the mess the school is going to get itself into" What do you mean by that? What are the long term implications? J.

Hi all, I'm a IT manager at an Essex Special School and atended a scary meeting yesterday with my head where he outlined a few details of BSf, its processes and its timelines. We are due for operation in 2011. As a special school we need specialist kit and our current ICT setup is designed to (obviously) directly benefit the students. Each classroom has a touch screen, switches, a big keyboard and a big track mouse. As well as the obligatory IWB and a couple of XP machines. I have a few questions that I'd like to put to fellow IT suport staff... 1. Why outsource to a large company who could potentialy have no experience or knowledge of our students and their complex needs? 2. Would we have a similar setup to our current one or would we have a generic network and hardware model imposed upon us by the the company? 3. My job: What if I don't want to work for that company? What if I want to be directly employed by my school? Is that possible? 4. Is the ICT investment a one off payment? If so what happens in 3-5 years when our once new kit is damaged and battered? (our hardware takes serious abuse in my school) Thats all I can think of for now, I must confess that my brain is still in shock after being told yesterday that effectively my job is on the line. Cheers in advance, J.

I'll check it out straight away! Sounds bloody fantastic! Are there any issues with Confidentiality? Can you customise the appearence of the client/web interface? Cheers. J.

I doubt it because we need a global address book and calender sharing. Although if a webmail system would do that we would certainly consider it. J.

No...Anything that gets the job done.

Ouch... I knew this would be expensive and complicated. Thank you very much for the reply....