New Challenges
Schools have changed significantly over the last few years with many adopting a variety of devices and resources. This mix of old and new makes it difficult to support and train teachers on how to get the best out of this.
- Still maintaining older PC workstations
- No in-house technician or only a few hours per month
- Mix of technologies, PCs and tablets, not sharing resources
- Budget restraints preventing real development with ICT
- Keep up to date with the latest releases and IT developments
- Recruiting, training and managing ICT staff
Managed Support Services
The range of technology used within schools can vary immensely, from PCs to tablets and from servers to cloud. It can become very difficult for a school to manage and to integrate these technologies whilst still providing the basic ICT needs for students and staff. Precedence Technologies takes the pain out of ICT design, procurement, installation, training and support.
Our Managed Support Services can cover the following:
- Remote telephone, web and email support
- Full or part-time on-site staff within schools
- Regular on-site visits for localised technical issues
- Routine maintenance visits for updates and health-checks
- Microsoft Office365 Integration and Support
- GoogleApps for Education Integration and Support
Future proofing and innovation
We know of no other supplier with such a wide ranging knowledge of both historical and modern educational ICT equipment from both a support and development point of view. We won't tell you to throw away equipment that is serviceable and educationally relevant. We are sad to see many schools throwing away perfectly good hardware. In many cases, the replacement offers fewer facilities yet costs more. We have seen PC suppliers who have reduced the ICT provision at schools to a fraction of what it was previously in terms of reliability, support, connectivity and security (email/web access, for instance) in the name of progress.
We won't supply a "cookie-cutter" style network. All our networks are personally designed to fit your exact needs. This means that your network can grow as your requirements develop. By choosing innovative ways of working, the network will have a long future and you'll always be ahead of the game.
Linton Village College gets smart about thin-client computing
Managed support service from Precedence Technologies with a virtualised desktop and server network based on Citrix Xendesktop, Lenovo System x and IBM Storwize technologies
The Challenge
Linton Village College had a large, ageing, PC stock which had become difficult to manage and was in need of upgrading. Replacing the 600+ workstations would be a costly undertaking, and the funds required for a like-for-like refresh were simply not available. Their infrastructure was getting old and struggling to handle the increased data requirements and the new range of devices being used within the school. The school was also looking to work with a specialised education supplier to help them to engage with 21st Century Learning.
The Solution
Linton Village College worked with Precedence Technologies to introduce a centralised thin-client, VDI and provisioning architecture based on Citrix XenDesktop running on IBM and Lenovo servers and shared storage. The existing school PC workstations were turned into thin-client VDI end-points using ThinIT for PC. New AtomIQx1 micro PCs provisioned from a shared read-only virtual disc were placed in the main ICT suites. This investment is supported on-site with a dedicated Precedence ICT Technician, coupled with remote support.
The Benefits
- Reduces desktop management workload by over 99 percent, as new software can be added to a single master image and then rolled out automatically, rather than installing it separately on more than 600+ machines.
- Full or part-time on-site staff within schools
- Provides significant cost savings in comparison to a traditional replacement plan. The new terminals cost 35 percent less than standard PCs. Converting existing PCs has extended the life of the school's old desktops.
- Will deliver greater energy efficiency and cut electricity costs as more thin-client terminals are rolled out across the school. The terminals consume around 95 percent less power than traditional machines.
- The school does not have to worry about managing or monitoring their ICT support staff, allowing teachers to teach and learners to learn.