Telecom Lead America: Ventura Unified School District (VUSD) has selected Ruckus Wireless’ ZoneFlex Smart Wireless LAN (WLAN) system to deliver Wi-Fi to support its expanding use of mobile laptop carts and netbooks in the classroom, as well as a mobile healthcare clinic.
Ruckus Wireless enables the school district located in Ventura, California, to support its computing program and ensure more interactive learning environment for students and teachers at its 28 K-12 schools and district offices.
The district serves approximately 17,000 students with 1,000 faculty members across 28 different campuses.
VUSD is purchasing and installing over 500 ZoneFlex dual-band 802.11n Smart Wi-Fi access points (APs) to deliver performance and capacity across all of its schools as well as its 140,000-square-foot district office.
“The Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi system is helping us achieve this goal through advanced technology that delivers reliable, continuous connectivity that we can use for various interactive programs and videoconferences with outside organizations – both of which keep our students highly engaged,” said Ted Malos, IT director for VUSD.
Previously, VUSD had a legacy 3Com system of unmanaged access points that was unable to keep up with wireless demands as more devices came onto school campuses.
VUSD selected the ZoneFlex product due to faster and more consistent data rates at various ranges along with demonstrable cost advantages over competitive alternatives.
They tested the systems by opening seven different YouTube videos streaming in separate windows. With the Ruckus ZoneFlex access points, 100 concurrent YouTube video streams transmitted flawlessly.
With an annual subscription cost added on to the price of each AP, the five-year cost for Meraki would have been more than five times the cost of the Ruckus ZoneFlex solution.
A single ZoneDirector 5000 controller located in the district office supports hundreds of ZoneFlex APs now deployed.
The Smart Wi-Fi network will be used to support a number of other applications, including its Aequitas Q student information system used by 1,500 teachers and staff in the district.
