Computacenter scores college IP network win

Cost cutting means convergence up north...

IT services provider Computacenter has won a contract to kit out Doncaster College with state-of-the-art IT as part of a wider £72m education initiative in the city.

Computacenter Services will work with partners including Cisco and IBM on part of that project worth £5m building a scalable IP-based network for the college, which it is hoped will be 10 times faster than existing infrastructure. That network will carry streamed media content as well as 99 per cent of the college's voice and data traffic.

Graeme Tizard, director of IT at Doncaster College, said the new infrastructure will help the college deliver remote and online learning to thousands of new students every year.

Tizard said "operational efficiency", including a simplification of management overheads and cost, was the main driving force behind the technology choices for the network.

As part of the contract, Computacenter Services is installing a range of other systems in the college, including servers and storage area networks, CCTV, smartcard-enabled security, an electronic registration system and audio-visual devices such as interactive whiteboards for classrooms.

David Gates, principal at Doncaster College, said he hopes the technology will help the college engage with a larger audience, especially as the scheme is being designed to link to a network of 200 learning gateways across Doncaster.