What is this about, and why should I care?

With more and more Education establishments adopting a technologically progressive nature in the delivery of Teaching and Learning with 1:1 device schemes and “Cloud first” approaches, the requirement for a fast, reliable and stable internet connection is becoming even more apparent.

It may seem obvious, but the more information that is stored in the Cloud needs to be accessed from the Cloud which, you guessed it, requires more Internet bandwidth (speed) than previously. Couple this with more portable devices being in situ (with 1:1 schemes, for example) that were not there before, and you ultimately have more data being accessed via the internet, by more devices accessing the internet than previously.

Surprisingly (or, perhaps, unsurprisingly) this simple logic is frequently missed when an organisation is considering these types of changes. The devices are naturally considered, as are the Cloud systems (such as Office 365 or G Suite) and even the capability of the Wireless and physical network… but the actual internet connection – the thing that is providing the backbone to everything else being considered – is either forgotten, or considered last. This naturally causes issues… you know that wonderful new system you’ve put in to use with those lovely shiny new iPads? It all falls down if you have a bad internet connection and the user experience will be horrible as a result.

The other area of note here is that of Internet security – with pupils and students accessing more content online, the need for safeguarding their access is also much greater. Anyone with children (or young adults!) knows that it only takes a whisper or a mention of something and in 10 seconds, they’ve found sources on Google, videos, podcasts and all manner of content about topics that maybe shouldn’t be accessible to them.

So… if you’re considering a faster and more robust internet connection to account for all this, and need some iron-clad safeguarding to ensure that the users are protected while they’re utilising it, what do you do?

Fear not! We’ve got your back…

This is exactly why we’ve created our Education-specific internet packages – named Rock, Paper, Scissors and Lizard (bonus points for anyone who can tell us the reference!). These packages are built for you whether you simply want a more suitable internet connection for your environment, protection for the users or even support for your Cloud systems.

Before we go in to them, here’s a note: Academia are what’s known as a “Tier 2” Internet Service Provider… meaning we own the network – and the traffic – for all of our customers’ connections. We’re not just paying someone else to provide the service, as everything we sell connects to the internet via our Datacentres, meaning we can categorically ensure that all of the traffic can be monitored and safeguarded both before it gets from the user to the internet, and before it gets to the user from the internet.

Also as a result of this, because our Datacentres effectively sit “in the middle” of your building and the internet, any Cloud hosting services we provide to you are completely private and delivered at super speed… as they sit in the “before the internet” stage. This article isn’t about Cloud hosting, so we won’t dwell on the detail, but if you’d like more information on what Cloud Hosting we can offer please speak to your Account Manager who will be pleased to help.