April 17, 2007
OLATHE DISTRICT SCHOOLS SELECTS TRAPEZE SMART MOBILE TO PROVIDE MULTI-CAMPUS MOBILITY FOR 26,000 STUDENTS AND 4,300 ADMINISTRATORS
Olathe District Schools Chooses Trapeze Smart Mobile WLAN over Cisco and Aruba for District Wide Mobility Spanning 75 Miles PLEASANTON, Calif., April 17, 2007 - Trapeze Networks™, the award-winning provider of Smart Mobile™ wireless solutions, today announced that Olathe District Schools (ODS) has deployed a Trapeze wireless LAN (WLAN) to provide mobility across the district’s 50 schools and 8 support sites spread over a 75 square mile area. The wireless network will provide mobility to over 26,000 students and 4,300 staff who will be using Gateway and Hewlett-Packard notebook computers and Wi-Fi ® -enabled Palm PDAs. Like many schools, ODS wanted to expand access to computers to promote learning and support online student assessment tests. However, there is not enough space in each classroom for dedicated computers; nor could their centralized computer labs expand to support their usage requirements. The Trapeze Smart Mobile WLAN allows teachers to dynamically move computers to where they are needed while reliably maintaining high-bandwidth connectivity and stringent security.
Olathe District Schools, soon to be the second largest school system in the state of Kansas, chose Trapeze Smart Mobile over Cisco and Aruba based on Trapeze’s superior administration capabilities, best-in-class security, scalability, and outstanding customer service. ODS uses Trapeze Networks RingMaster management software to plan, deploy, monitor, and optimize its wireless LAN. RingMaster allows ODS to manage their 75 square mile network from one location, where they can monitor performance and identify problems in real-time. The system also ensures comprehensive security of Olathe’s network by identifying and mitigating potential rogue access points across all their sites.
“Trapeze Smart Mobile was a natural fit for our schools,” said Rita Lyon, Executive Director of Technology for ODS. “We needed a wireless solution that could scale to handle our growing bandwidth needs and security requirements as well as being easy to configure and manage remotely across multiple locations. Trapeze Smart Mobile was deployed quickly and outperformed the competition in our evaluations.”
Since Olathe began their investigation into wireless two years ago they have seen the emergence of many new IEEE 802.11 standards. Smart Mobile’s unique ability to allow them to embrace various 802.11 standards including future-oriented ones such as 802.11n, was a significant factor in the district’s decision making process, since they would not have to incur the high cost of upgrading network controller infrastructure.
“Schools need to maximize the lifespan of their infrastructure, sometimes as much as 5 to 10 years,” said Lyon. “The Smart Mobile architecture helps us get the most from our investment.”
“ODS solved the problem that many schools are facing today -- they simply do not have enough floor space to put dedicated computer systems in each classroom,” said Trapeze President and CEO Jim Vogt. “It has been a pleasure working with ODS to deliver a Smart Mobile solution to address their needs. Trapeze Smart Mobile wireless LAN enables ODS, and many school systems like them, to increase the availability of computers to enhance learning.”
About Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks delivers Smart Mobile™ — a ground-breaking approach to wireless networking, enabling organizations to deploy massively scalable mobile applications that leverage their existing infrastructure. Smart Mobile achieves this breakthrough by introducing intelligent switching, the first and only WLAN architecture that optimizes network traffic based on the underlying application. With Smart Mobile intelligent switching, organizations can support the most demanding next generation wireless applications such as toll-quality voice over WLAN for thousands of users, seamless indoor/outdoor mobility, and high-speed networks based on 802.11n — all without requiring expensive forklift upgrades. Trapeze Networks is well-capitalized, with strategic investments from networking industry leaders including Juniper Networks, Motorola, and Nortel Networks. Founded in March 2002, Trapeze is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, with operations in Europe, Japan, and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please visit
www.trapezenetworks.com .
