A network built for today and tomorrow

Prosper, Texas, is the fastest-growing community in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. As Prosper Independent School District (ISD) prepares to educate 32,000 current students and an expected 10,000 additional students over the next few years, it is building new schools, expanding existing facilities, adding academic and extracurricular programs, and upgrading technology.

Prosper ISD chose Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform to ensure exceptional connections to support learning and administration, roll out networks faster, and operate its IT infrastructure efficiently with more helpful insights across the district.

Overview


Company Prosper Independent School District
Industry Education
Products used AP43AP45AP63EX4400EX4650EdgeWi-Fi AssuranceWired AssuranceMarvis VNA
Region Americas
Prosper Independent School District
Outcomes

32,000

Embrace educational excellence

Students, teachers, and staff rely on Wi-Fi every day

100%

Uninterrupted learning

Network availability at schools upgraded to Juniper

2x

Simplified deployment

Faster to configure a new site with a Juniper network than the previous product

Challenge

 

Prosper ISD has opened 14 new schools since 2019, including two new high schools, and will open four more in 2025. Its legacy controller-based Wi-Fi was experiencing growing pains, and classroom instruction at some schools was impacted by slow and unreliable wireless.

“We were planning ahead,” said Fernando De Velasco, CTO of Prosper ISD. “If it was difficult to meet our district’s growing technology needs today, what would tomorrow be like?”

Prosper ISD’s vision for a network upgrade included high-performance Wi-Fi 6 and AI-Native insights and automation to simplify the rollout and operation of a network for a district that is expected to double in the next 10 years.

Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform took top marks during Prosper ISD’s competitive evaluation. During testing, Juniper’s advanced AI for IT operations (AIOps) proved its smarts by proactively identifying Wi-Fi problems with a specific cart of iPads, allowing district technicians to resolve the issue long before classroom instruction started.

Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform delivers exceptional digital experiences for the 32,000 students, faculty, and staff at Prosper ISD. The IT team can manage its schools’ wireless and wired access networks from anywhere with zero scheduled downtime for new feature rollouts.

Prosper Independent School District Challenge
Solution

A network that supports learning anywhere

Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform delivers simplicity and innovation at scale for Prosper ISD. Juniper wireless access points deliver Wi-Fi indoors and out while Juniper switches are used for the access and core networks.

The Juniper Mist Wireless Assurance service automates wireless operations to streamline rollout and makes the Wi-Fi predictable, reliable, and measurable, providing near real-time visibility into user service levels.

The Juniper Mist Wired Assurance service brings AI-Native operations and automation to Juniper EX switches. Juniper’s Marvis Virtual Network Assistant proactively addresses disruptions to the user experience through natural language and suggested actions.

Juniper Mist Edge extends select Juniper Mist cloud microservices to Prosper ISD’s locations for scalable and resilient operations, management, troubleshooting, and analytics.

Juniper AP43 Wireless Access Point

Juniper AP45 Wireless Access Point

Juniper AP63 Wireless Access Point

Juniper EX4400 Switch

Juniper EX4650 Switch

Juniper Mist Edge

Juniper Mist Wireless (Wi-Fi) Assurance

Juniper Mist Wired Assurance

Juniper Marvis Virtual Network Assistant

Prosper Independent School District Solution
Outcome

Uninterrupted connectivity for nonstop learning

With Juniper, Prosper ISD has a network that is solid, scalable, and readily available for learning. Its IT leaders can be confident that learning services are available when needed as the district doubles over the next decade. As schools are refreshed over the next five years, they will be migrated to Juniper.

 Swift deployment in half the time
Implementation speed is crucial when upgrading networks at 25 schools and installing four new sites. “The Juniper templates are powerful and make configuration easy,” said Calan Craig, Coordinator of Network Services at Prosper ISD. “Configuring a new site is two times faster than our previous solution.”

 Simplicity empowers IT to focus on meaningful work
“I could easily train a new network sys admin to manage the network because the Juniper dashboard is intuitive and Marvis presents actionable data,” said Craig. “I love that the Juniper network itself can detect, correct, and self-heal problems.”

 Smart virtual assistant spots hidden problems
“During a small proof of concept (POC) involving five Juniper Mist access points, Marvis alerted us that our DNS servers were going down for one minute each day,” said Curtis Henderson, Director of Technology Network Services at Prosper ISD. “This was a lightbulb moment for me. Before we deployed any Juniper network devices, we frequently received complaints about internet slowness around lunchtime, but our previous tools couldn’t identify the issue. I was amazed that just one week after installing Juniper devices, my Juniper wireless POC revealed I had a DNS problem.”

Prosper Independent School District Outcome
“The Juniper network just works so we can focus on strategic technology to support the district and student learning. Juniper offers the easiest, most convenient, and flexible network solution with the best value.”
Fernando De Velasco CTO, Prosper Independent School District

Published January 2025