How to Double Your Bandwidth Utilization,

Make Teachers Happy and Maintain Network Integrity

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The following information is from America’s Digital Schools 2006, a study conducted by The Greaves Group and The Hayes Connection. Their report is a forecast of the computing issues for the next five years. A summary of key findings is available for download or you can purchase the entire survey at http://ADS2008.org. One key finding from the report considers a looming bandwidth crisis. “Today the Internet bandwidth per student is 2.90 Kbps according to the survey. Furthermore, schools say they will grow this to 9.57 Kbps per student by 2011 - a 3.3 fold increase. But the ADS2006 team believes as much as 40 Kbps may be needed in five years. As the number of computers in schools increases and the ways in which students use computers change, more and more bandwidth will be needed.

It is unlikely, however, that many schools are budgeting for a 14 fold increase, although technology directors are generally aware of the challenge. The hard costs of the bandwidth required to support the growth in online learning, home connectivity and ubiquitous computing are unknown and likely to require additional research.” The question about bandwidth is certainly one that needs to be addressed. Is this prediction valid? How do IT Directors view this and what impact does this have on the growth of networks, staffing, support and the extension of learning beyond the school district to providing access to students from their homes? In addition to bandwidth, many IT departments face the gradual loss of control as teachers and students use the Internet to blog, participate in social networking and access video from YouTube and other sources. The use of video from on-line and non-approved sources can impact school districts in two ways: (1) online video slows down the network causing delays and other problems for users in the district and the individuals responsible for curriculum no longer have control over the tools teachers use which may or may not cause problems with state and local standards.

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Another area of concern is staffing. A recent study by SchoolDude.com of K-12 school districts found that 72% of districts do not have enough IT staff to integrate new technology into the classroom and 69% do not believe they can effectively support the needs of the district. This data supports the need for solutions that can be easily integrated into the classroom without adding additional support personnel or staff for deployment or on-going support. Questions?

1. What would it cost to triple your daytime bandwidth? 2. How do you add realtime video without negatively impacting

network operations? 3. What happens to efficiency if you double or triple bandwidth

utilization with your existing network? 4. What’s the benefit of closing the gate to unrestricted on-line

video access? 5. How do you continue to address these issues with existing

staff and support personnel? The answers to these questions call for unique solutions and action. Where’s the Extra Bandwidth? Not all networks are created equal and not all school districts have enough bandwidth to deliver video on demand to their classrooms from

multiple or on-line sources without seeing a drag on the network. Keep in mind that video on demand usage is unicast rather than multicast so it requires more bandwidth and the more people that access on-line video the more bandwidth required. The problem is the extra bandwidth is needed during school hours and bandwidth is not a faucet that can be turned up or down to control the flow of information. What’s needed is a way to utilize 100% of the available bandwidth not just a small portion. If a typical operational school day is 7:00 am to 5:00 pm the network is busy for 10 hours. But, that leaves 14 hours where the network is inactive and bandwidth is abundant. Each week has 168 hours but the network is only active for 50 of those hours.

That means school districts are paying for 100% of their network but only using 30%. This begs the question, how do you maximize bandwidth? The answer is, find a way to make use of the 70% of bandwidth that is not being used. Closing the Gate As long as teachers have unfettered access to on-line video the problems impacting bandwidth and standards will exist. The solution is to develop a manageable gateway. Allow teachers to search the Internet for tools and video that will help them in the classroom but control the use of these materials. Sites like YouTube allow for downloading so creating a gateway where teachers find and request content that can be reviewed,

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approved and downloaded provides a great compromise that encourages teachers to be creative but implements controls so it is within usage guidelines that make sense for teachers as well as curriculum standards and network usage. So, the answer to this dilemma, that many school districts face, is to make use of night time and weekend bandwidth and create a gateway to control the use of on-line video. If this is an approach that is appealing to your district, Synergy Broadcast Systems has a solution that can help you solve these problems. For more information on how to double your bandwidth, keep teachers happy and maintain the integrity of your network give us a call.

Synergy Broadcast Systems 16115 Dooley Road Addison, TX 75001

972-980-6991 800-601-6991 972-980-6994 Fax

http://synergybroadcast.com

About Synergy Broadcast Systems Synergy Broadcast Systems is located in Addison, TX (Dallas). Founded in 1987 to serve the education, cable, broadcast, government and healthcare markets the company’s solutions help facilities manage and utilize video content in the most efficient and effective manner to capture, catalog, organize, archive, report and deliver video for broadcast, video on demand, streaming and digital signage. The company’s systems are modular, economically scalable and forward-focused to provide solutions that solve video organization and delivery problems and provide migration options for future growth and expansion. For additional information call 800-601-6991 or visit http://www.synergybroadcast.com.