All schools in Northern Ireland will now have access to wireless services as part of Northgate’s $266m (£170m) Education Network Northern Ireland (EN(ni)) contract. Meru Networks, Inc., provider of 802.11n wireless enterprise networking, is partnering with Northgate Managed Services to provide Wi-Fi connectivity to over 350,000 teachers and pupils in 1,200 schools.
The cloud-based network has been designed to create a dynamic, flexible service that will give schools increased access to learning resources and enable teachers and pupils to better collaborate and communicate. The solution allows teachers and students to gain access to the network and resources securely via personal devices, such as smartphones, iPad tablets, tablet PCs and laptops. Teachers and students will also be able to use educational resources and toolsets through Northgate’s My-School learning portal.
The Meru wireless network will be built around 10,000 access points located throughout the school buildings, and 38 MC4200 controllers in a central data center. The datacenter will be connected by superfast telecomm connections to the access points on the school campuses.
