Manchester Education Authority

The Brief
On the 20th April 2009 Manchester Education Authority issued a press release inviting all schools within the Manchester catchment areas to apply for up to £50,000 for Capital ICT expenditure under the Harnessing Technology Grant. The grant is available from 2008/09 – 2010/11 and after much discussion within the Authority it was decided that the monies applied for could be spent on wireless infrastructure. All bids were to be received by the Authority prior to the 18th May 2009.

Our solution
The Authority was already aware that Digitech were an approved Ruckus wireless Silver Partner and indeed Ruckus wireless solutions were already in three schools within the authority. Digitech therefore visited over 40 schools in a 3 week period to offer advice and provide quotations with regard to the Ruckus wireless products. Eventually when the deadline for submission was reached, Digitech had provided quotations for 35 primary schools and received orders for 34 installations.

The project required the design and project management of 34 Manchester Education Authority schools and the installation of approximately 250 wireless access points, associated cabling and configuration.

Under the terms of the Authorities contract, all 34 site installations were to be completed during the six week summer holiday period and in any eventuality by a close off date of 31st August 2009.

Digitech’s project management team led by Phil Whitworth, a fully accredited Ruckus “Wise Guy” Engineer, ensured that the whole project was completed ahead of schedule, within budget and thereby provided 30% of Manchester’s primary school sector with a fast and efficient wireless service.

The second phase of the bid was to co-ordinate the upgrades of the schools’ Curriculum servers.  Many of the existing servers were over 10 years old and following discussions with the schools we settled on a HP Proliant product set.  With the aid of HP, Digitech provided new product and support to 22 schools and seamlessly upgraded their networks.

• Location: Manchester Primary Schools
• Sector: Education
• Project Value: £600,000
• Scope of Works: Roll out Installation of Wireless Network systems