THE Journal — Hardware
Round Rock ISD Expands NAC Deployment
Round Rock Independent School District in Texas is expanding its deployment of network access control devices. The 39-campus, 110-square-mile district has added 10 new NAC appliances from Mirage Networks, as well as a Mirage Management Server, to its network, integrating with the existing Cisco architecture.
(8/30/2007)
AVerMedia Kicks Off Video Contest
AVerMedia Technologies, a provider of multimedia and presentation tools, is launching a new contest for students, instructors, and administrators, calling on them to produce videos describing compelling classroom experiences made possible through the use of document cameras. The contest, dubbed the AVerVision Video Contest, is open to all North American K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.
(8/28/2007)
Palm Beach County Deploys WAN Optimizer
The School District of Palm Beach County in Florida has deployed a WAN optimization technology called ProxySG from Blue Coat Systems. The device is an appliance designed to accelerate file transfers, educational content, and applications across the WAN. It was implemented at 160 sites, which Blue Coat reported was the largest WAN optimization deployment in history.
(8/20/2007)
Apple Upgrades iMac Line
Apple CEO Steve Jobs today introduced the company's new lineup of all in one iMac systems, replacing the previous lineup. The new models come in two form factors: one with a 20-inch screen, one with a 24-inch screen. Both now sport aluminum enclosures like the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro systems. The new systems are based around Intel's latest Core 2 Duo processors running at clock speeds up to 2.8 GHz.
(8/7/2007)
HP Awards $1.2 Million to K-12 Schools
HP has announced the recipients of its 2007 Technology for Teaching Leadership awards. Fifteen K-12 schools received awards totaling $1.2 million in equipment and professional development.
(8/1/2007)
Public School District Delivering Video On Demand
To provide a digital video collection accessible by all its 68 schools, Loudoun County Public Schools (Ashburn, VA) has purchased Wynnewood, PA-based Library Video Company's Safari Montage WAN Manager, a video on demand (VOD) digital media management system.
(7/30/2007)
Education Market, Notebooks Help Propel Apple to Record Quarter
Apple yesterday held its third-quarter conference call to discuss financial results with investors. During the call, the company for the first time revealed initial sales for its newly introduced iPhone. It also announced record results for the education market and the Mac as a whole, along with positive growth for iPods.
(7/26/2007)
OLPC XO Laptops Authorized for Mass Production
The One Laptop per Child organization (OLPC) this week authorized the mass production of its centerpiece XO laptop. The final model is based on the XO B4 (Beta-4) design. According to OLPC, the authorization begins a production process that will see the final laptops roll off assembly lines in October.
(7/24/2007)
Renaissance Adds Wireless to Latest NEO 'Sub-laptop'
Renaissance Learning (Wisconsin Rapids, WI) has released the AlphaSmart NEO 2 sub-laptop for the education environment.
(7/2/2007)
Interwrite Updates Bluetooth Classroom Pad
Interwrite Learning has announced an update to its Interwrite Pad, a wireless (Bluetooth) interactive pad designed for classroom use.
(6/26/2007)
Apple 13-Inch MacBook Benchmark Results
We recently posted our review of Apple's latest generation of entry-level notebook computers--the 13-inch MacBook. In it, I promised we'd provide a more detailed look at the machine's performance in a battery of CPU-intensive benchmark tests. We now have those benchmarks ready to go, and the results should surprise you.
(6/22/2007)
Review: Apple 13-Inch MacBook (Generation 3)
After a little more than a year, Apple's entry-level MacBook line of notebook computers is now in its third generation. Sporting upgrades to wireless networking, CPU performance, and storage capacity, the new models bring near-workstation-class performance to the low end of Apple's lineup while continuing to offer a comprehensive suite of hardware and software features that make it ideal for a wide range of applications, from school and home use all the way up to pro-level content creation.
(6/20/2007)
Apple Upgrades MacBook Pro Notebooks
Apple has released three upgraded models in its MacBook Pro line of notebook computers. The new models get processor speed boosts across the entire base line. The three new models are available with either 15- or 17-inch screens and now come stock with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 4 GB.
(6/5/2007)
Review: Google Mini 2.2
"Deploy and forget." That's the phrase that comes to mind to describe the Google Mini, the 1U rackmount appliance from Google. Now at version 2.2, the Google Mini provides key intranet and Internet search functionality, coupled with Google Analytics and document security integration, that make it, essentially, a complete "Google in a box," tailored just for you. And it's so simple and worry-free to operate and maintain that you might just forget you ever deployed it in the first place.
(5/23/2007)
Apple Rolls Out Upgraded MacBooks
Apple's entry-level series of notebook computers--the MacBook--today received performance improvements across the board, including processor speed, memory, hard drive capacity, and networking. The new models are shipping now, with education pricing set below $1,000 on the low end.
(5/15/2007)
130 Schools Receive HP Grants
HP this week announced the recipients of its 2007 HP Technology for Teaching grant program. Forty-two colleges and universities and 130 K-12 schools will be receiving more than $7 million in cash, gear, and professional development.
(5/3/2007)
California District To Roll Out Laptops for Teachers and Students
This summer Hacienda La Puente Unified School District in California will begin the first phase of a new program supplying laptop computers to students in fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth grades. These students will be given Dell Latitude D620 notebooks for use for four years in classrooms and at home.
(4/4/2007)
Apple Ships 8-Core Mac Workstations
Apple Wednesday formally released a new high-end Mac Pro workstation that sports two quad-core Intel Xeon "Clovertown" processors. The rest of the Mac Pro workstation lineup remains at four processor cores, ranging from two 2.0 GHz dual-core "Woodcrest" Xeons to two 3.0 GHz dual-core "Woodcrest" Xeons.
(4/4/2007)
Windsor USD Deploys Wyse Thin Clients
Following a pilot project that began in 2006, Windsor Unified School District (WUSD) in California will convert to Wyse thin clients across its enterprise over the next two to three years.
(3/20/2007)
Seattle Public School System Flexing Fiber Muscle
The Seattle Public School System is in the middle of deploying an advanced fiber optic broadband network to support the district's advanced application requirements, as well as to reduce the costs it incurs by leasing network facilities.
(3/15/2007)
Massive Illinois High School District To Move Back Office from IMS to SQL
To reduce IT costs and improve productivity, the Township High School District 211 in Illinois has migrated its student information, payroll, personnel and security database systems from a mainframe IMS environment to a Microsoft SQL Server platform.
(3/14/2007)
Tangent Debuts All in One Touchscreen Systems
Tangent earlier this month unveiled new models in two of its line of desktop computers, including two Mini Pro models and a line of all in one VITA touchscreen systems, all running on Microsoft Vista.
(2/15/2007)
Data Protection: Make a Wise Decision
It's not unusual for school district staff members to emulate Lewis Carroll's Mad Hatter, wearing six or eight hats simultaneously in their everyday efforts. Sometimes, the hat hardest to wear is IT management, which is important and challenging at the same time.
(2/15/2007)
Extreme Makeover: Computer Edition
(2/1/2006)
Creating a Rich Learning Environment
(1/1/2006)
