School District Streamlines Network to Improve Academics

As it aggressively moved its expanding student body to a one-to-one computing model, Frederick County Public Schools sought to fortify yet simplify its network. 

Overview


Company Frederick County Public Schools (Maryland)
Industry Education
Products used QFX5100EX SeriesEX3400
Region Americas
Frederick County Public Schools (Maryland)  Image
"With our previous network vendor, when we had to make changes, we needed to be onsite, because if you made a mistake you could lock yourself out of the network. With Juniper, we can simply roll back a configuration. A Juniper network is much more manageable and easier to troubleshoot."
Steve Strunk Network Engineer, Frederick County Public Schools

As enrollment grew and new digital learning and online assessment mandates increased, Frederick County Public Schools realized it needed a network foundation that could scale easily, was simple for a small staff to operate, and supported workload migration across data centers.

Business Challenge

A 10-year-old legacy network was keeping the district from fully embracing educational technologies across its 66-site, 42,000-strong student body. As the district tried to advance its one-on-one learning program, online assessments, and other digital projects, network performance and management struggles got in the way.

Technology Solution

Frederick County teamed with Data Networks, a Juniper Elite Partner, which helped the district secure E-rate funding to cost-effectively replace its network with a Juniper solution. QFX5100 Switches and EX4300 and EX4600 Ethernet Switches supply connectivity, and the district has simplified switch management using Virtual Chassis technology. Junos Space Network Director delivers single-pane-of-glass management across the entire deployment.

Business Results

Now the school district can easily meet the demands of digital learning or online college-readiness assessments, and has seamlessly deployed 8000 additional mobile devices. In addition to academic applications, the network supports administrative apps and surveillance cameras, and the district controls heating and air conditioning over the network.

"A year ago, we were struggling with the routers and BYOD. Since then, we have dramatically increased our count of Chromebooks, and there’s no noticeable impact on network performance, which shows the scalability of Juniper."
Chris Bohner Network and Security Manager, Frederick County Public Schools