Computerworld

Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology to get Extreme network upgrade

Deployment is scheduled to start in September
  • Stuart Corner (Computerworld New Zealand)
  • 03 October, 2018 09:27

Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology has turned to Extreme Networks to improve Wi-Fi access for staff and students and to boost network performance across its eight campuses locations and more than 70 sites 

Deployment is scheduled to start in September and is expected to be completed before the end of the year. The network design and implementation will be undertaken by a combined team comprising Extreme Professional Services, Extreme’s partner Business Technology Group (BTG) and Toi Ohomai’s own in-house IT staff.

Toi Ohomai was formed by the amalgamation in May 2016 of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in Tauranga and Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua and since then has been managing a disparate and ageing set of networking technologies.

It is now the largest tertiary provider in the Bay of Plenty and the third largest regional Institute of Technology and Polytechnics (ITP) in New Zealand. Its five main campuses in Rotorua, Tauranga, Taupō, Tokoroa and Whakatāne provide education and training to over 14,000 students supported by more than 1,000 staff.

According to Extreme Networks, the new infrastructure will enable Toi Ohomai to introduce more advanced capabilities such as new mobile apps to support teaching and learning outcomes, and location-based capabilities using beacons and IoT to enhance its students’ experience on campus.

Toi Ohomai's head of IT Rabindra Das said the links to each campus would be upgraded from 1Gbps to 10Ggbps giving students, and staff much better and more consistent connectivity and access to resources.

“However, the icing on the cake is the capability to leverage the Extreme Networks software, both in security and analytics, and also the additional services we will be able to deliver for student and staff support in the future," he said.

He added: “Our IT administrators will have a single pane of glass for management and a better picture of what is going on across the entire network. We also expect to see a significant reduction in service requests with better access to the network for students, staff and guest users.”

Extreme Networks says its systems will provide Toi Ohomai with "an agile, adaptive and secure network solution, managed by an end-to-end network management system, network access control and application analytics, so administrators can capture and visualise data on applications, network, devices and users for better insights and business performance."