The U.S. Department of Education is reimagining the role of technology in education. This year’s National Education Technology Plan envisions “equity, active use and collaborative leadership to make everywhere, all-the-time learning possible.”
According to the Department of Education, schools and libraries need to be capable of supporting:
To support this digital transformation, a robust IT infrastructure is necessary. Everything from student record keeping, grade information and standardized test data relies on the optimal performance and function of a school system’s data center and premise network capabilities.
Furthermore, schools and libraries need an IT infrastructure system that accommodates a great variety of equipment, accepts cable routing from any direction, sustains high rack densities at allowable temperatures, supports intelligent power distribution and is ready for future demands.
In these subjects, Chatsworth Products (CPI) is an expert.
With so many different buildings, departments and classrooms, schools and universities require zone and wireless enclosures that provide easy access to equipment.
By dividing the workspace into zones and prewiring each zone to a zone enclosure, it is easier to change connections in the future. Only the cables between the zone enclosure and the individual workspaces are moved, added or changed, eliminating disruption in other zones.
CPI provides a variety of cabinets, containment and enclosure systems to fit most applications. The TeraFrame® Family of cabinets, for example, is highly configurable and supports CPI Passive Cooling® Solution for optimal airflow and energy-efficient cooling.
For school districts and universities data centers with increasing density, an intelligent power distribution unit (PDU) that allows remote monitoring is crucial. With CPI Monitored eConnect® PDUs, it is possible to get detailed power measurements and even set up threshold alarm for power, temperature and humidity for each daisy chained PDU. [In fact, a school district in Tennessee has deployed TeraFrame and Monitored eConnect PDUs. Read about it here.]
For budgets that need to account for every cent, eConnect is ideal for schools and libraries as it provides Secure Array™ Technology, an IP linking consolidation feature that allows for a connection of up to 32 PDUs using a single IP address. This feature saves schools time and money because it reduces the number of IP ports, deploys fewer switches and routers, and decreases installation time.
Class, conference rooms and library floors are usually busy areas with little floor space. CPI’s ThinLine II Wall-Mount Cabinet is a safe, space-saving cabinet for networking multiple systems in high-traffic areas.
The space-saving ThinLine II safely secures 19”EIA rack-mount network equipment with minimal intrusion into the room—perfect for tight areas and high-traffic places such as classrooms. Use ThinLine in schools, portable classrooms or small training rooms.
When equipment safety is a concern, CPI’s CUBE-iT PLUS® Wall-Mount Cabinet is ideal. The enclosure stores and secures telecommunications equipment in a horizontal cross connect or a consolidation point, thus providing easy access for cross connections and rerouting. It is ideal in campuses, and larger schools and libraries.
When it comes to education, proactivity is key. With the new school year in full swing, it is time to plan for next year’s budget allocation.
Every year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) assigns a billion-dollar funding program designed to upgrade internal connections and Wi-Fi infrastructure in U.S. grades K-12 and public libraries.
With a core list of products covered by the e-Rate program in IT infrastructure—open racks, wall cabinets and cable management—CPI not only understands the market, but it has perfect solutions for any school, including:
- Standard Two-Post Rack
- Velocity® Standard Pack (Standard Rack + Velocity Vertical Manager)
- Global Standard Pack (Standard Rack + Global Vertical Cable Manager)
- Cable Runway Products
- Standard Swing Gate Wall Rack
- Cube-It PLUS® Wall-Mount Cabinet
- ThinLine II Wall-Mount Cabinet
The learners of today will be tomorrow’s decision makers. In the age of the Internet of Things, students must have full equal access to technology in order to create, explore and investigate new frontiers.
Education enabled by technology requires a robust infrastructure that will provide the foundation to empower learners to make a better future. Count on CPI to be your partner in this endeavor.
For more information on how CPI can solve critical concerns in the schools systems’ data centers, click here. Or contact your CPI Sales Manager to discuss your product needs.
Raissa Carey, eContent Specialist