bring your own device, power your own learning

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Business need Staff and students at Middlesbrough College use a range of devices to enhance their teaching and learning. The college had to respond by providing them with a fast, reliable and secure wireless network. Solution The college upgraded its entire wireless network with Dell Networking W-Series access points and a ClearPass controller to handle user authentication. A Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive Next-Generation Firewall protects the network. Benefits Staff and students have quick, easy access to a secure wireless network Users can bring in any device for teaching and learning The IT team eliminates hours of admin a week spent setting up wireless accounts Collaboration with Dell Services establishes a robust concept for the network and provides ongoing support User satisfaction is reflected through a significant reduction in support requests Solutions at a glance Networking Campus Solutions Mobility Security Services Bring your own device, power your own learning Students and staff at U.K. college personalise their learning and teaching with their own devices thanks to fast, user-friendly and secure wireless network Customer profile Company Middlesbrough College Industry Further Education Country United Kingdom Employees 1,000 Website www.mbro.ac.uk “ We like to be hands on here, but a lot of the expertise lay with Dell. Between us we managed to find a solution that met our needs. It was a collaborative effort.” Andy Low, Facilities Manager, Middlesbrough College

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Page 1: Bring Your Own Device, Power Your Own Learning

Business needStaff and students at Middlesbrough

College use a range of devices to

enhance their teaching and learning.

The college had to respond by

providing them with a fast, reliable

and secure wireless network.

Solution

The college upgraded its entire

wireless network with Dell Networking

W-Series access points and a

ClearPass controller to handle user

authentication. A Dell SonicWALL

SuperMassive Next-Generation

Firewall protects the network.

Benefits• Staff and students have quick, easy

access to a secure wireless network

• Users can bring in any device for

teaching and learning

• The IT team eliminates hours of

admin a week spent setting up

wireless accounts

• Collaboration with Dell Services

establishes a robust concept for

the network and provides ongoing

support

• User satisfaction is reflected

through a significant reduction in

support requests

Solutions at a glance• Networking Campus Solutions

• Mobility

• Security Services

Bring your own device, power your own learningStudents and staff at U.K. college personalise their learning and teaching with their own devices thanks to fast, user-friendly and secure wireless network

Customer profile

Company Middlesbrough College

Industry Further Education

Country United Kingdom

Employees 1,000

Website www.mbro.ac.uk

“We like to be hands on here, but a lot of the expertise lay with Dell. Between us we managed to find a solution that met our needs. It was a collaborative effort.” Andy Low, Facilities Manager, Middlesbrough College

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“ Dell proved that what we wanted to do was possible, and together we made sure it would work when the time came to roll out the network. None of the other manufacturers we consulted could show us that.” Andy Low, Facilities Manager, Middlesbrough College

As a result, its schools, colleges and universities place great emphasis on the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Middlesbrough College, the largest provider of further education in the area, is no exception to this. And, as such, it requires an IT environment that can keep pace with the technology that its students are learning about. Andy Low, Facilities Manager at Middlesbrough College, explains the role of IT there: “IT touches every facet of the college’s business. The demands on our service are consequently very high. We have lecturers who are pushing the boundaries when it comes to teaching, and they require an excellent service from us.”

Changing times Learning and teaching look very different now compared to how they looked 10 or even 5 years ago. Online learning environments are the norm. Here, teachers can provide students with materials, and learners can upload their work, interact with other students and even be assessed online. This places demands on the IT environment, but that’s not the only challenge. The proliferation of streamed media means bandwidths have to be increased. What’s more, users want to bring their own devices from home and use them at college.

Middlesbrough College had a wireless network that had moved from a previous site. The system worked adequately when it was set up more than 6 years before, but back then the demands placed on it were far lower than today. “The old network

was configured for known, corporate devices. It didn’t support the kind of environment we have today, with a huge range of devices brought in by students and staff from home. In addition, the user interface for logging on was cumbersome and didn’t support the authentication methods for some of the most popular mobile operating systems: Android and iOS. We knew we needed a change,” says Low.

A trusted partner The college has worked with Dell for almost a decade, using Dell PowerEdge servers and EqualLogic storage in its data centre. Low says: “We have a good relationship with Dell, especially our Dell account manager. He often visits us, along with Dell experts who brief us on upcoming technologies.”

Middlesbrough, in the north east of England, has

traditionally been a hub for heavy industry, particularly

steelmaking and chemical processing. Over the last 20

years, however, the region’s main economic activities have

gradually shifted towards scientific research, computer

technology and light engineering.

Products & Services

Services

Dell Deployment Services

Dell Consulting Services

Dell Support Services – Dell ProSupport

Hardware

Dell Networking W-AP105 and W-AP135 access points

Dell Networking W-Series ClearPass controller

Software

Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive 9200 Next-Generation Firewall

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Low also travels to Dell’s Executive Briefing Centre in Bracknell to discuss projects and share expertise. “I don’t just see my Dell contacts as a voice at the end of a phone, which is often the case with so many technology vendors. They’re personable. It’s refreshing to find a large company with a personal touch like that,” he says.

Several vendors proposed a wireless solution, but Dell’s offer stood out. “There wasn’t much to separate each proposal in technical terms,” says Low. “But we were impressed that Dell’s offer was completely based on its own technology. Other companies had pulled together solutions where the switches were from one vendor and the firewall came from another. But when your project is so complex it’s good to have one point of contact. Realistically, we don’t expect everything to run completely smoothly, but what’s important is how a vendor deals with issues that arise. We felt that with Dell using all its own products, we’d be in a better position.” The solution comprised a Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive 9200 Next-Generation Firewall for network protection, Dell Networking W-AP105 and W-AP135 access points and a Dell Networking W-Series ClearPass controller to handle user authentication.

Getting it right The first step for the college was a proof of concept to establish exactly how the components would integrate. “Dell proved that what we wanted to do was possible, and together we made sure it would work when the time came to roll out the network. None of the other manufacturers we consulted could show us that,” says Low.

The most significant challenge was the integration between the network and the content filtering system. All colleges need to ensure that students are accessing only appropriate content online. Previously, the wireless network and content filters were completely separate systems. The college wanted to integrate these, as well as link them to Active Directory for user

authentication. “We wanted to create a seamless experience where people weren’t having to log in multiple times to access the internet. The proof of concept showed us exactly how we would achieve this,” says Low.

Dedicated support is fast track to success The college then worked with Dell consultants to configure the new network. Low says: “We like to be hands on here, but a lot of the expertise lay with Dell. Between us we managed to find a solution that met our needs. It was a collaborative effort, but Dell did a lot of the leg work on bug fixes, patches and firmware upgrades.” Once the solution was rolled out, the college had access to a dedicated Dell engineer via Dell Support Services to help it get the network up to speed. “That worked well,” remembers Low. “He’s still our go-to for support, although now that the network is established we don’t have as much call to use the service.”

Guests welcome One significant benefit of the new network is the ability to handle guest users. Previously, any guests – such as speakers or lecturers – had to enter their details to gain WiFi access, giving the name of a sponsor within the college who had to approve the guest’s access, before a member of IT staff could set up a user profile. “Like many things, we’d always find out about these guests at the last minute and it could take us half an hour to set up each profile,” says Low. “We’re out of that loop now, which is a good thing, but we can still monitor the number of people who access the network in that way.” Guests can log in to the wireless network and enter their details via a web portal, eliminating hours of administration each week for the IT team. The college can also provide one-use passwords to internal users with a college IT account, allowing them to bring in a device from home and use it immediately. In addition, users can add their personal devices to the network. “This is great for people with devices like smartphones, where

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you don’t want to re-enter a password every 6 hours,” says Low. “These three sign-in options give us and our users flexibility to access our network quickly, and, most importantly, securely.”

Network secured Middlesbrough College chose to protect its network with a Dell SonicWALL SuperMassive 9200 Next-Generation Firewall. This detects and blocks the most sophisticated threats before they can enter the college’s network. It also offers high throughput speeds for every connection on the network, meaning the college doesn’t have to trade network protection for performance. “We chose SonicWALL because of its outright throughput and scale,” says Low. “We have a high amount of traffic. Our security threats come from outside, but we can also see significant threats from internal users, whether intentional or not.” Low recalls a recent denial of service (DOS) attack directed at the college, adding: “We were safe in the knowledge that SonicWALL would prevent it.”

Reliable IT = happy users As anybody working in IT knows, no news is good news. It’s only when users are unhappy with a service that they start to get in touch. Due to the increased number of access points, wireless coverage has improved and the number of support requests has dropped accordingly. Low says: “If we don’t get any feedback, it generally means people are happy. They expect the seamless access that they get at home, using any device. Now we can provide that at Middlesbrough College.”

Dell, the Dell logo, Dell ProSupport, EqualLogic, PowerEdge and SonicWALL are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Availability and terms of Dell Software, Solutions and Services vary by region.

This case study is for informational purposes only. Dell makes no warranties — express or implied — in this case study. Reference Number: 10013503 © February 2015, Dell Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View all Dell case studies at Dell.com/CustomerStories

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“ We were impressed that Dell’s offer was completely based on its own technology. … We felt that with Dell using all its own products, we’d be in a better position.” Andy Low, Facilities Manager, Middlesbrough College