“If I were to describe Extreme Networks in one word it would be, ‘Valued. They are a valued partner.’” — Ryan Collins, director of IT, St Xavier High School

Implementing a student BYOD program with no limit on the number devices and connecting hundreds of Apple TVs to teacher devices throughout the school posed a formidable challenge at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. When Director of IT Ryan Collins asked Apple for help, they told him no other schools had ever attempted to connect so many Apple TVs in one building. Thanks to the network solution from Extreme Networks, it now works flawlessly.

Working with Extreme Networks, Ryan determined that the Apple Bon Jour protocol could handle only 50 TVs per network segment. Extreme Management Center enabled the school to easily partition the network to isolate the Apple TV Bon Jour protocol to specific classrooms and segments. As a result, Apple TVs can be used in classrooms throughout the school with limitation.

Today, the wireless solution consists of 160 access points blanketing all 425,000 square feet of the high school. The network also provides Wi-Fi connectivity at the football stadium, and is being extended to cover the tennis courts, baseball complex, rugby fields, track and field, parking lots. The wireless access points are connected through switches located in about 20 closets located around the school. Extreme Management Center and ExtremeAnalytics enable Ryan and his team to manage and monitor the network.

Thanks to the flawless network, educators at St. Xavier are able to focus on education, not the technology – The teachers are very excited that mirroring with the Apple TVs actually works now. Before Extreme Networks, if they could even get it started, they were lucky to get 20 minutes of mirroring before the connection dropped. Less class time wasted trying to get the technology to work, means more time for education and collaboration. The IT department has noticed that while the number of students and teachers has remained stable, the number of devices being brought to school is on the rise, something they attribute to their new high-performance Extreme Networks infrastructure. Their solid, reliable infrastructure has enabled the IT staff to confidently support any personalized learning initiatives for the high school.

For more information, see Tri-State High School and Stadium Improves Connectivity and Reduces Cost with a Total Network Solution.