LeonDan

Milton Keynes based. We've gone with Schools Broadband (hello!). We had concerns about low uptake with MKSP/Updata, which would have had a knock-on effect on their final price. I have to say though, we had a great relationship with MKSchools. Shame it had to end so abruptly.

Is this Ozan at OPSoftware? If so I'd like to know where he is too - I'm trying to get my trial of the software set up, but can't get hold of him.

All very encouraging I must say! Thanks guys. IrritableTech, I'll take a look at the blog to see if it can offer me up some assistance. And noted about the transparent proxies. The Smoothwall is totally outside of our control and off-site, so I don't have the opportunity to set up any particular settings to suite us. There was talk of getting one in here to demo, long-term (a year had been mentioned), so maybe I can pick up the scent on that old trail again. Thanks again.

My how time flies when you're having fun. Here we are in November already, a full 2 months after the start of the academic year, and it's only now I've really got the time to say a few words about our wireless install over the Summer. Ahhh, those long gone Summer days.... So, through initial investigations I opted to trial Netgear (an update to our existing Netgear solution and recommended to us at the time by our then managed service support team), Aerohive, and lastly Ruckus. All three carried out some kind of site survey, and yet only C-P-Ltd, the Ruckus reseller, came back with any alteration to our existing deployment of APs. They suggested we could cover it in less than 50 APs (and hence only have to pay for a 50 client licenced ZoneDirector). Given that two other resellers were telling me it would take more than 50 APs, I did have a slight amount of reserve on whether the few Ruckus would be up to the job... but how pleased I was to be proved wrong! We ended up doing the whole school with just over 40 APs, leaving us some in reserve to kit out one of our partner schools. I think they call that a result. It's hard to really gauge how kit will behave in the final judgement when you go fully site-wide, when you've been trialling with a couple of demo APs in one small area. Suffice to say they all worked without any problems, so I suppose you more look at whether the management of the wireless network is set at the right level. Too basic software management, you'll feel like you're lacking control; too fiddly and you will just be lost in a sea of mostly overkill options and settings. Oh yeah, lest I forget, cost and keeping within budget loomed large over all of this! With the option to self-install then, the Ruckus kit came in the cheapest. Not only that, but even if it had been a grand or two more than option B (Aerohive), we would probably still have gone with it. I come back again here to the management (ZoneDirector) catering to your needs. No more, no less. Anyway, I lost count of the amount of pestering emails I sent the way of Joe at C-P-Ltd, asking for clarification when... well, I wasn't clear on something! Or when I needed the umpteenth alteration to the quote based on late information coming to me from on high in the school. All in all, a thoroughly pleasant and personable experience to deal with those highly knowledgeable guys, so they come with a big Fonz style thumbs up from me! Gone are the bad old days of clients dropping off for no apparent reason; roaming problems; APs needing a reboot every few days; sluggish speeds on profile loads or say, a SIMS update. I'd heard it said a few times when I was researching which solution to go with, but the Ruckus kit is rock solid, just running quietly in the background without any interference from us in support. Wireless isn't something I want to have to spend my time constantly monitoring and fussing over. Now, we only have one outstanding issue: that of Guest access, as we can't use transparent proxy with our provider. They use Smoothwall and have told us transparent proxies are *not* allowed. It's not urgent at present, and there is a high chance that we will be moving internet provider soon anyway and potentially gaining the ability to use transparent proxy, but if anyone does have any helpful advice on this?... (yes I've seen the other posts relating to this but haven't been able to make anything work for us yet using wpad and pac files) Regards, Dan

Thanks for the pointers guys. When I get time (wishful thinking...) I will have a look at this Google Hangout. I did speak to Skype about Group Calling - all I would need is a Skype Business account on 1 computer (the 'host') at 5 quid a month, which was much cheaper than I expected.

... the intended equipment. Thanks, Dan

Ok thanks for the tip. Skype had tentatively been suggested as a way forward, so it's something I will definitely explore. I guess we will have laptops in each of the 3 areas - I can always do a dummy run well in advance in my office using

Hi all. Semi-frequent lurker, first time poster, so here goes... In preperation for a school-wide presentation later this year, I have been charged with investigating the possibility of video linking 3 separate locations around school. The idea being that each area can see each other area live, on a large screen, with one area at a time being the 'active' camera that the other areas pay attention to - there is even talk of someone running around from area to area, presenting in an Anneka Rice-like fashion... The whole thing will last about an hour or two. I haven't a clue how best to go about doing something like this - is it something I should approach from a Skype-type angle, or am I way off there? I'm thinking I don't have any suitable equipment for this kind of 'show', so it might need all to be brought in. Anyone got any useful leads about who I could speak to even - AV hire-companies? Has anyone done anything like this before? Just wish we had an indoor space large enough for the whole school then we wouldn't need any of this faff... (there is a possibility of doing this outside with a huge marquee, but we want to compare likely costs before we decide) Thanks in advance, Dan