Case Study   Saint Thomas More Academy (USA)   Cost-Saving 3Com® Wireless Voice and Data Solution Untangles School's Communication Woes Organization: Saint Thomas More Academy Location: Magnolia, Delaware, USA Staff & Students: 164 Market Segment: Education The Challenge Saint Thomas More Academy provides a Catholic, secondary education to a small, select group of Delaware boys and girls. To accommodate growing enrollment and enhance its course offerings, the academy recently constructed a 27,700-square-foot facility housing offices, classrooms, a media center, and a multipurpose auditorium. While planning this project, the academy realized its communication's infrastructure also needed revamping. Its existing 10 Mbps data network, which served administrative offices and a computer lab, could not be extended to classrooms where teachers and students needed it most. Moreover, expanding the school's legacy Centrex telephone system to the new building would have cost thousands of dollars in wiring charges and hundreds in monthly line fees. In addition, trailers serving as temporary offices and classrooms needed phone service and network access until the new building was completed. To operate smoothly and continue to deliver a cutting-edge education befitting its reputation for academic excellence, St. Thomas More Academy needed a proven voice and data network supporting campus-wide system. The Solution Following the recommendations of the school's 3Com sales representative, St. Thomas More Academy deployed the following 3Com wired and wireless voice and data solutions to deliver seamless high-speed connectivity campus-wide. 3Com® 11 Mbps Wireless LAN Access Point 8700 provides enterprise-class, high-performance 802.11a-802.11b dual-mode wireless networking, supporting up to 250 users. Built-in security, manageability, upgradeability, and reliability features make it ideal for any organization or institution facing increasing mobile computing needs. 3Com® Wireless Building-to-Building Bridge operates in conjunction with any Wi-Fi certified wireless access point, delivers secure 802.11b-standard point-to-point wireless connections over a distance of up to 10 miles without the expense of laying cable. 3Com® 11 Mbps Wireless LAN PC Card with XJACK® Antenna offers enterprise-level security and performance. The patented XJACK antenna with smart switch technology delivers convenient, energy-efficient WLAN performance. It can be extended for use and then retracted for travel. 3Com® NBX® 100 Communications System delivers robust, full-featured business communications for up to 200 devices (lines/stations). It delivers a robust call-processing feature set coupled with a suite of telephony applications. Designed for small to midsize businesses and branch offices with up to 200 devices per location, it features NBX system software simplifying third-party application's integration and offers flexible multisite IP connectivity options. It has powerful call-processing features built in: voice mail, automated attendant, hunt/call groups, call detail reporting, computer telephony integration (CTI), PC-based visual voice mail/email clients (IMAP4), and more. It easily integrates a wide range of off-the-shelf applications including customer relationship management (CRM), call centers, and speech recognition. It supports telecommuters and remote access users with optional 3Com NBX IP licenses. It simplifies day-to-day operations with easy-to-use browser-based administration and user programming utility. 3Com® SuperStack 3 Firewall provides a high performance, secure, and flexible firewall excelling not only at protecting networks against threats from the Internet, but also in connecting remote offices and workers together securely using easily configured IPSec Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). There is an optional, integrated Web Site Filter service assuring acceptable web usage policies for appropriate student usage, reduced administrative overhead, and organization protection from legal and social liabilities by enforcing acceptable web usage policies. The wired networking infrastructure is provided by 3Com SuperStack® 3 Switch 4900 providing the Gigabit core and 3Com SuperStack 3 Switch 4400s providing the Fast Ethernet user (phones and PCs) connectivity. The 3Com Advanced Redundant Power System ensures that the network will continue to operate if a power supply in one of the switches were to fail. Benefits Chosen for its extraordinary value and ease of use, the versatile 3Com solution delivers secure, ubiquitous, high-speed network access all over campus while allowing the school to trim its phone budget by 40 percent and save hundreds of dollars in wiring fees. Priced significantly less than comparable solutions from other vendors, the 3Com NBX 100 Communications System is saving the academy $3,500 a year in line fees and maintenance by allowing the school to eliminate four of its existing eight analog phone lines. Moreover, with a single wiring system delivering both voice and data in its new building, the school saves the $100/hour expense of hiring contractors to install phone wiring. Powered by next-generation 3Com switches prioritizing voice traffic, the NBX solution also provides the faculty with crystal-clear communications and advanced features like four-digit internal dialing and call transfer. Teachers now have phantom voice mail boxes with direct dial numbers to keep them in closer contact with parents and administrators. Automated attendants ensure calls are promptly answered and properly routed, even after hours. The 3Com solution also includes a dual-mode wireless LAN delivering both 11 Mbps 802.11b connections and ultra-high-speed 54 Mbps 802.11a links throughout every campus building — classrooms, the library, the cafeteria, the gym, even the chapel. Using wireless-equipped laptops, every member of the school community can now be online simultaneously with no need to hunt for a network connection or wait for an available terminal. The network allows teachers to use technology in the classroom as never before: connecting laptops to projectors for presentations, accessing educational publishers' online resources to create custom-tailored lessons and tests, and even updating student grades and attendance records on the spot. The wireless network is a major attraction for prospective students and their parents; the academy even provides 3Com PC Cards with XJACK retractable antennae to incoming students as a benefit of enrollment. During the new building construction phase, wireless building-to-building bridges also provided wireless connectivity to computers and NBX phones in portable trailers allowing the school to continue functioning normally without the expense and inconvenience of temporary wiring. St. Thomas More Academy relies on a SuperStack 3 Firewall to keep out hackers and viruses, filter objectionable email and web sites, and block students from forbidden activity such as music swapping and online games. In addition, because 3Com is the preferred vendor for Delaware's public school systems as well, the academy has fast access to support — a critical consideration for a small school with no IT staff. As a result, the academy plans this fall to extend the 3Com solution to another building currently under construction. "3Com guided us to the best solution at the best price, and delivered a network that worked perfectly from the very start," said Jonathan M. Grant, principal of St. Thomas More Academy. "With our 3Com solution, we may be the most technologically advanced school, public or private, in the entire state of Delaware — and our students are going to reap the benefits for years to come."