McAllen Independent School District Digitally Transforming Learning Environment

Aerohive Networks, Inc. announced that McAllen Independent School District (ISD) selected Aerohive, in partnership with Dell EMC, to improve the students and teachers user experience with innovative technology for the learning environment.

The school in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley nationally achieves remarkable results. McAllen high schools rank in the gold and bronze categories of the Best Schools in the Nation listings by US News & World Report. Operating in the metro area ranked poorest in the US, where close to three-quarters of the district’s population is economically disadvantaged and a third has limited English proficiency, McAllen relies on modern technology to beat these handicaps and achieve excellent outcomes. It was one of the first districts in the country to provide everyone – 24,254 students and 1,675 teachers – with mobile devices to facilitate effective learning and teaching.

Expectations were high for the McAllen IT department, which needs to manage the district’s computing resources and deliver service quality. Several concerns prompted a decision for a complete network overhaul. One of McAllen’s biggest IT challenges was that its solutions had become unmanageable over the years and the district wanted to return to simplicity. The IT department also hoped to align technology closer with the school district’s mission of learning enablement, while at the same time aiming to improve the reliability of the wireless network.

McAllen’s curriculum was becoming more and more based on wireless technology and after 18 years with the same vendor’s products, the school district decided to review networking solutions.

The district solicited bids from several vendors, including Dell EMC and HPE. McAllen ISD closely reviewed technical capabilities, the interoperability of multiple manufacturers’ devices, and the financial impacts of purchasing and long-term operation. The vendors had to demonstrate that their solutions would support a simple IT and network environment that would be flexible and easy to troubleshoot and manage.

Each vendor was asked to provide a proof of concept of the proposed networking and wireless technologies. McAllen ISD chose Dell EMC networking solutions together with wireless devices from Aerohive.

The Aerohive and Dell solution proved to be more robust and easy to manage, performing better than McAllen’s past solution. Supported by Dell EMC partner Weaver Technologies, LLC, the district deployed Dell EMC Networking N3024F, N3024P and N3048P 1/10GbE switches; Dell EMC Networking S4048 switches; and Dell EMC Networking C9010 switches. The Dell Networking solutions inter-operate smoothly with the district’s existing Dell EMC servers. SonicWall, Inc.‘s devices secure the network.

The district’s Wi-Fi is powered by Aerohive AP250 access points installed in schools and campuses. Through this solution, McAllen ISD realized both immediate and long-term cost savings. Savings also result from reduced licensing expenses and process changes with the self-healing network. The help desk can delegate the use of the management console to a support specialist and offload it from the most experienced IT professionals. With a network optimized for learning, McAllen IT also gained greater control, which directly affects the user experience.

McAllen’s collaboration with Dell EMC and Aerohive yields lasting technical and learning benefits. The close integration of Dell EMC networking and Aerohive products has enabled McAllen IT to manage the devices better. Because of the way McAllen, Dell EMC and Aerohive work together, the IT department can develop solutions at reasonable costs that are sustainable over time.

“The Aerohive solution, in comparison to other products that we’ve looked at and had, has really come to aid us in manageability of the client,” said Pat Karr, district director of network services, McAllen Independent School District. “Every device that we have is now being managed through the controller-less wireless setup that we have, and we can see every device that’s coming onto the network. We can password protect it, and use private pre-shared keys to help us with that. At the end of the day, it’s providing us a good viewpoint of what our students and staff are doing and what we can try to do better to make it more efficient and faster for them.“

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