Reliable, secure network internet connectivity helps Native American students explore the world outside their Arizona reservation.
- Industry: Education
- Solution: Data Center, Autonomous Network, Harsh Environments, Wireless Networking (WiFi)
The Whiteriver Unified School District serves the communities of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Eastern Arizona. With more than 2400 students and staff, the district includes five schools and an administration building across a rural, underserved area.
A vision to elevate and extend the reach of Native American students via the Internet came true with the implementation of a reliable, sophisticated, and secure, wired and wireless network. By securely assuring access and connectivity, Pierre Dehombreux and the district have opened opportunities for those growing up on the reservation.
Whiteriver conducted a thorough evaluation of solutions from several vendors for the network refresh. The incumbent vendor had lost touch with Whiteriver after it had been acquired by another company. Service and support proved to be a key element in Whiteriver’s decision criteria for the new network. Supported by three staff, with only one certified to manage the network, it needed to offer a combination of automation, reliability, and an advanced security feature set, to satisfy Whiteriver’s demanding requirements. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise networking solutions was selected to deliver on these needs. Today Whiteriver has built a sophisticated, advanced network with LAN, WAN and WLAN which is beyond many big city schools. Most recently, the network has enabled Whiteriver to deploy security cameras and door access on their five campuses.
Products:
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6865 Hardened Ethernet Switch
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6465 Compact Hardened Ethernet Switch
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6900 Stackable LAN Switch
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch 6860 (E and N) Stackable LAN Switch
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniAcess® Stellar WLAN Access Points
- Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista® 2500 Network Management System
Technical Benefits
- OmniSwitch and Stellar wireless solutions deliver higher performance, improving backbone and access speeds
- An intuitive CLI and friendly OmniVista2500 NMS streamline day-to-day management
- Security at the network level is enforced using advanced automated user and device access policies
- Resiliency is achieved using virtual chassis, redundant links, and a dedicated out-of-band network
Financial Benefits
- A network automation fabric eases operational overhead
- ALE switches deliver technology advances with an anticipated 5+ year lifecycle
- Considerably more cost-effective to deploy and maintain than the previous network
User Experience Benefits
- Security and performance of the network met user expectations
- Teachers utilize more education tools and apps for broader learning
- Students access the network using Chromebooks and other BYOD devices
- Security cameras and secure door access add to campus safety
