THE Journal — Integration/Networking
Beaufort County SD Revamps Network for E-Learning
Beaufort County School District is South Carolina is overhauling its network infrastructure to facilitate e-learning applications and to help provide advanced online professional development through the use of streaming video. The district is working with technology provider Extreme Networks and systems integrator Converged Networks on the overhaul.
(11/1/2007)
Districts Revamp Curricula for 21st Century Learning
School districts around the United States are taking an active approach to 21st century learning by retooling their curricula and changing the way they measure student achievement in STEM subjects. What's more, according to a survey released this month by the National School Boards Association, technology is playing a major role in facilitating change, from online learning to project-based learning to Web 2.0 applications like wikis and blogs.
(10/31/2007)
MPISD Deploys Data, Portal Systems
Mount Pleasant Independent School District in Texas is integrating student data and adding new tools to meet state reporting requirements with the help of Mizuni, which is providing the district with its Motiv suite. The district is also using Motiv to set up a portal to make student information available to parents and administrators and to help "inform instruction" with the use of Motiv assessment tools.
(10/31/2007)
Apple Launches iPhone Dev Center
Apple has created a new suite of development resources tailored specifically for the iPhone. Dubbed the "iPhone Dev Center," the service provides a range of resources, including guidelines for optimizing Web apps for the iPhone, sample code, video tutorials, and other reference material.
(10/25/2007)
JCHS Deploys WiFi Array
JSerra Catholic High School has deployed WiFi arrays across its Southern California campus. Xirrus deployed its arrays at the school to support the school's laptop program and online educational tools.
(10/24/2007)
ShareLoader Appliance Automates Remote Backups
Crossroads Systems has started shipping a new appliance designed to automate backups of both on site and remote systems--SurePath ShareLoader. The appliance allows for backups of saved files on user machines (Windows-based) and also allows those users to retrieve lost data themselves, with the aim of reducing "IT overhead."
(10/22/2007)
Leopard Arrives Oct. 26
It was about 14 months ago that Apple first previewed Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") at its 2006 Worldwide Developers Conference. Now, following delays reportedly resulting from resources shifting to iPhone development, the company has announced a release date for the new OS: Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. Coinciding with the release is Mac OS X Leopard Server, which includes the first commercial CalDAV calendar server, along with Wiki Server and Podcast Producer.
(10/16/2007)
MNPS Rolls Out VOD District-wide
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee is deploying video on demand and digital asset management tools across all of its 135 schools. The district, one of the 50 largest in the United States, signed a five-year contract with Library Video Co., which will supply the services through its Safari Montage video on demand system.
(10/12/2007)
California Schools To Optimize Networks
California is taking a novel approach to tackling the problem of network degradation in its schools and districts. The California K-12 High Speed Network, which administers the broadband network infrastructure for 81 percent of the state's schools, will be traveling around to individual schools and districts to analyze their network configurations, locate problems, and recommend fixes for optimizing performance. K12HSN is using Netcordia's NetMRI appliances to carry out the task.
(10/10/2007)
Blue Lane Ships VirtualShield 4 for VMware
Blue Lane Technologies has released VirtualShield 4.0, a security solution for VMware Infrastructure 3 and designed to integrate with VMware VirtualCenter.
(10/8/2007)
MIT's Kerberos Consortium To Expand Data Security
MIT in September launched the Kerberos Consortium, according to a report from the university's News Office. MIT is the originator of Kerberos, a network authentication protocol. One of the goals of the consortium is to expand it to offer data protection to a wider range of clients, including various consumer devices.
(10/8/2007)
Envision High Schools Spread WiFi Across Campuses
Charter school management organization Envision Schools is expanding its use of WiFi and deploying campus-wide wireless networking across all four of its high school campuses in Northern California.
(10/5/2007)
Blue Lane To Ship VirtualShield 4 for VMware
Blue Lane Technologies has announced that it will ship VirtualShield 4.0 Oct. 5. VirtualShield is a security solution for VMware Infrastructure 3 and designed to integrate with VMware VirtualCenter.
(9/27/2007)
Cultural Exchange: LMS Bonds Texas Students with Denmark
In an example of bridging vast cultural divides through technology, students from a conservative Catholic high school in Texas are learning from college students in Denmark, and vice versa, through a Blackboard-based exchange launched last year.
(9/25/2007)
NetSupport Bumps DNA Helpdesk to 2.7
NetSupport has updated DNA Helpdesk to version 2.7. DNA Helpdesk is a Web-based customer support management system designed specifically for IT professionals in education.
(9/20/2007)
VMware Says Academic Program Attracting Schools, Releases Tools as Open Source
Virtual infrastructure software company VMware says that more than 300 schools are now participating in its free Academic Program, which provides products, resources, and source code at no cost to schools for research and publication.
(9/19/2007)
Free Document Exchange Connects High Schools to Colleges
College and career-planning services provider ConnectEdu has released its C!Doc college admissions tool for free to help high schools more easily connect students with higher education institutions.
(9/19/2007)
Novell To Launch Team Collaboration for Open Workgroup Suite
Novell next month will begin shipping two new workspace and collaboration tools for its Open Workgroup Suite: Novell Teaming and Novell Teaming + Conferencing. The tools are designed to boost team productivity and streamline processes involved in creating, managing, and sharing information.
(9/18/2007)
San Francisco and Tampa Districts Deploying Hundreds of Whiteboards
San Francisco's Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD), Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District (FSUSD, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), and several other Bay Area districts, along with Tampa, FL's Alachua County Public Schools, have deployed several hundred Smart Technologies Smart Board interactive whiteboards in classrooms.
(9/18/2007)
Moto Expands PTP Wireless Bridge Lineup
Motorola has expanded its MOTOwi4 lineup with a new fixed point to point wireless Ethernet bridge: the PTP 25600, a modified version of the PTP 600. The new 2.5 GHz, 300 Mbps solution is targeted toward Educational Broadband Service license holders and is designed to provide secure broadband access for online courses and other instructional programs. It's available now in the United States.
(9/17/2007)
AT&T Announces $1.5 MM Wireless Grant
The AT&T Foundation has launched a $1.5 million competitive grant program aimed at integrating wireless communications technologies into educational outreach programs. The 2007 AT&T Foundation Wireless Competitive Grant Program is open to public charities and "government instrumentalities" in the United States, excluding Alaska.
(9/13/2007)
Tyler ISD Puts DVRs on School Buses
Tyler Independent School District in Texas is putting digital video recorders on its school buses. No, the DVRs aren't there to let students catch up on the shows they missed while in class. Instead, they're part of a security system for the district that includes cameras and encrypted wireless connections for remote download.
(9/4/2007)
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)
Tornado-Stricken Schools Deploy WiFi
Nearly destroyed by an F5-class tornado May 4, Greensburg Unified School District in Kansas has reported that it worked with long-range WiFi networking technology maker Xirrus to deploy a wireless network to full operation in less than a day.
(8/23/2007)
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)
