Prestwood Network Upgrade

On May 13^th Brendan and I upgraded the network equipment at Prestwood Elementary. Every piece of network equipment on their campus, many of which were over 10 years old, were upgraded to brand new HP ProCurve switches. The new HP equipment provides gigabit LAN speeds (10/100/1000 MB) and Power Over Ethernet (PoE). Gigabit network speeds along with a new network layout (we deployed multiple VLANS on the student network to segment traffic) will provide faster LAN speeds and the ability to move data more efficiently through the Prestwood campus. Gigabit Ethernet and PoE will also be the foundation our new ShoreTel Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system that we are will be installing district wide over the summer.

The network upgrade went smoothly. Brendan worked diligently from the 10^th to the 13^th preparing the 8 network closets for installation. We started the installation at 4 PM on the 13^th and had all the old equipment removed and new equipment installed by about 9:30 PM the same evening. We were able to configure the new switches on site and had the new equipment up and running before the staff came in the next morning. By noon the next day, the network was tested and determined to be fully functional.

We have now installed new HP Procurve switches at the High School, Adele Harrison, Altimira, Sassarini, and Prestood. We have Dunbar scheduled to be installed right after school gets out and El Verano and Flowery scheduled in July when their equipment arrives. By the start of the 2010/2011 school year all of the sites will be fully upgraded.

We are working with Maintenance and our wiring contractor to find the best way to pull Fiber Optic cables from the High School to Prestwood. Fiber optic lines would provide far greater speeds (2 GB or more) between Prestwood and the High School and would alleviate the congestion and latency inherent in the the Proxim microwave solution (100 MB) that current connects Prestwood to the High School. We hope to have the specific details worked out soon with the help of the maintenance.