Network Refresh - South East Essex College of Arts and Technology

The educational home to over 9,000 full and part time students.

Migration Summary

SEEC’s Requirement
The requirement was for an up to date, intelligent network with central administration that could be handled easily by college staff. Akhter was one of several companies invited to tender, including the existing network provider and administrator.

Timing
The project was specified in Dec 01, with rollout during the summer break. Some companies declined to quote, saying that the timescales were not realistic for the amount of work involved. "Akhter delivered everything in the timescales agreed. This was very satisfying, not least because of the compliments Martin and I received from staff for the smooth start to the autumn term." - Craig Willcocks.

A Complete Solution "The Akhter team sat down with us to determine our exact requirements before going ahead. We were pleased by the genuine concern that we got what was right for the college and always received positive feedback to our requests. As a result, we received a complete, thorough package“ - Craig Willcocks

Open Network
Previous experience made the college keen to ensure that they no longer had a "closed network", where only the network provider’s own or "pre-approved" software was permitted. SEEC was pleased with Akhter's policy to invite and support applications and software that are widely available for education use.

Simple Network Administration
SEEC had an established IT supplier to the college of some 8 years standing, but they were concerned about the XP implementation of their administration software. Akhter's InterJigsaw XP was not only stable, but also had additional features including web based email, Internet usage tracking and remote software installation that lifted it above its rival. Akhter configured InterJigsaw to the college requirements, so that the front-end screens reflected rooms, courses and student groups familiar to staff.

Remote Software Installation
In addition to using RemInstall as a major time saving factors during the SEEC migration, it was also included as part of the InterJigsaw system specified for the college for their own internal use. RemInstall enables administrators to install software to anywhere on the network from one location. For added control, RemInstall keeps an audit of exactly which software is on each terminal.

Teamwork
“Throughout the installation, we were pleased with the stability and flexibility of the support staff. We had a team of faces that was consistent and always available. We developed a good relationship with the team who, in turn, were able to make fine tuning adjustments as their understanding of the college developed" - Martin Connor