Wi-Fi Solutions for Education

The best champion of a Wi-Fi solution for eduction is customer experience.
Here are a few examples of how Extricom technology out-
performs other solutions to benefit schools and colleges
across the UK.
To learn how Extricom could work for you, call ICON or one
of its re-seller partners.
icon-plc.co.uk 01727 730000
Wi-Fi for eduction
The Extricom advantage: from A-to-Z

Haybridge High School & Sixth Form
Paul Willetts, Network & Communications Manager
“The most interesting qualities that surround the
Extricom technology reside in its blanket topology, its
centralised switch management and its high-density
capabilities. These highlights, together with the
outstanding support provided by Extricom from the
offset mean that I would happily install Extricom at any
school. It’s built to succeed and fundamentally, it simply
just works”
Access points are deployed in a channel blanket topology without capacity trade-off.
This “Channel Blanket” technology, unique to Extricom, provides a rock-solid Wi-Fi
connection for all clients.
Access Points: “Channel Blanket” topology
In an Extricom solution all APs transmit on the same
channel. This means truly seamless roaming with no
AP-to-AP hand-off. With the APs receiving on the same
channel, a client’s transmission is simultaneously heard
by multiple receiving points, which makes the connection
highly resilient.
Essa Academy in Bolton
Abdul Chohan, Assistant Head Teacher
“Extricom seemed almost too good to be true. I hadn’t
heard of Channel Blanket technology, and couldn’t
imagine wireless without dead spots or limitations
caused by interference. But we piloted the solution on-
site, saw that the performance claims were real, and
went forward immediately with it.”
Access points can be layered in any density as determined by the coverage and
capacity requirements, something that other wireless LANs find very difficult.
Coverage & Capacity: few technology limitations
Traditional WLAN solutions, based on a cell-planned topology, struggle to achieve the capacity and coverage required
around a campus comprising a collection of halls and classrooms clustered together, often in multi storey buildings. This
is due to co-channel interference and channelisation issues arising from the deployment of multiple access points. These
issues can cripple the wireless network and are the cause of the mixed track record the traditional cell-planned wireless
solutions have in large-scale educational. The result is spotty coverage or very low bandwidth for users.

The Extricom Wi-Fi “channel blanket,” makes the system simple to deploy.
Deployment: simple and fast
Washwood Heath Technology College, Birmingham
David Carr, Network Administrator
“We were determined to make a significant technology
investment, but to justify this we needed a WLAN
that could stand the test of time. We concluded that
the Extricom solution would fit the bill, since it’s a
technology with a history of success in the educational
environment, while also being at the cutting edge of
WLAN.”
Edensor Technology College
Richard Pickard, Deputy Head Teacher
“The Extricom system operates in a way that allows
seamless hand-over and I mean seamless, it was
wonderful to watch the facial expressions of the
technical team as they literally plugged and unplugged
access points as fast as they physically could without
any degradation of connectivity performance.”
Washwood Heath Technology College, Birmingham
Faisal Malik, Deployment Project Manager
“The beauty of the Extricom solution is basically that
one AP doesn’t interfere with another, so putting in and
running the system is a straightforward, easy process.”
Taking advantage of this, the implementation team quickly
deployed the Extricom solution over the entire campus
to provide coverage for some 19,250 square meters
(173,250 square feet) of classrooms, assembly halls, and
administrative areas.
Bishop’s Stortford College
Neil Hunt, BT iNet deployment team leader
“The Extricom solution was refreshingly easy (to install);
other wireless solutions ironically focus on the wired
network side of things, instead of just focusing on the
heart of the matter: achieving reliable and worry-free
connectivity through the air. With Extricom, it’s pretty
simple: you just plug in the AP, roam around with a PDA
to check signal, and as long as you’ve got coverage,
away you go.”
The Extricom WLAN technology renders these technical issues non-factors. Extricom’s topology is based around the
“Channel Blanket,” a unique architecture that uses each available radio channel, on every AP, to create blankets of
coverage controlled by a central switch.

With an Extricom solution, teaching staff spend more time actually teaching and less
time getting their network-based lessons off the ground.
Education: stress free teaching
John Willmott School, Birmingham
Mr Rahman, Operations Manager
“Nearly every teacher at JWS will tell you of the
pressure felt at the start of the lesson until everyone
had successfully logged in to the network and of the
known problem regions – classes where it was always
a headache to get everyone up and running. No more.
All of a sudden the staff are beaming. No matter what
class or room they’re in, they just switch on and they’re
connected”
Washwood Heath Technology College,
Birmingham
David Lindley, Business Manager
“Tapping into virtual learning applications of the whole
Birmingham, and national, educational system should
improve our GCSE scores and provide a huge value-
add for our kids. Implementing a wireless network is a
bit like the creation of the World Wide Web. It probably
didn’t seem like much when it was being built, but it
opened up the possibility for tremendous achievement.”
Extricom equates to robust, resilient wireless connectivity
anywhere – a must-have to make the digital classroom
a reality. Reliability is key as connectivity problems can
cost an extensive amount of support time and worse still,
wasted teaching time.
Extricom equipped schools know that students have
reliable access to on-line learning resources from
anywhere within the coverage area.
“ The criticality of seamless connectivity and always
– on performance is immeasurable. Lessons are
planned around the wireless – fact. Since the Extricom
deployment, staff are more confident and reliability was
key to creating that confidence. Rapport has improved
between staff and students and every staff member
has bought into the benefits the wireless brings to the
school. Every lesson has become more creative and
overall results have been quite surprising. We now
actively encourage students to bring their own devices
...”
Essa Academy in Bolton
Abdul Chohan, the Assistant Head Teacher
“I was beginning to think that wireless LANs might not
be a feasible solution, because co-channel interference
can severely reduce basic network performance during
high usage periods, and in an educational environment
that could have a disproportionate impact on school
operations. So when I heard about Extricom WLAN, I
thought this is definitely worth looking at.”

Bishop Stortford College
Stephen Bacon, Head of Information Technology
“ Since we would be more than doubling the user
population, from 80 to 220, the system we deployed had
to handle user capacity issues seamlessly. In addition,
we had very limited or no access to individual students’
rooms, so we needed the freedom to be able to place
access points (APs) wherever we could. And we needed
to do it in two weeks. Basically, it was going to be a
massive leap.
“Like most schools, we wanted the best and had a
limited budget. With Extricom, the ability to up-scale was
easy, ‘n’ was covered, ‘g’ didn’t drag the ‘n’ performance
down – as a result, the students are receiving a better
quality of education through a variety of learning
styles; they’re gaining digital awareness and everyone,
including parents are benefiting from the significantly
better availability of information”
An Extricom solution is one of the most flexible solutions available when it comes to
expanding or upgrading the system.
Expansion: coverage, communications, services & speed
More bandwidth is simply a case of adding additional; access points. Likewise, extending the coverage is a case of
deploying additional access points. Adding or replacing an AP can be done by the IT manager and as one AP doesn’t
interfere with another, APs can be added at will.
The solution supports all variants of WiFi standard
meaning that it can be easily upgraded to support both n
and g WiFi standards with no loss in performance.
An Extricom system is inherently ready for converged
voice, data, and video services, requiring no changes or
additional costs to support these demanding applications.
Multiple blankets can be deployed offering the capability
to expand the services provided. Because of the unique
network topology, mobile wifi handset communications
can be supported along with other wifi-based services

Caludon Castle Business and Enterprise
School
Paul Harvey, Assistant Head Teacher
“ My key objective was to find a wireless solution that
could really deliver the technological capabilities we
needed to both the student and teacher bodies. It was
essential that we could simultaneously log 30 laptops
onto the network at the start of a lesson with no issue.
The school is keen to promote ‘everywhere learning’
and we needed a solution that could give guaranteed
coverage to all areas of the school site
Edensor Technology College
Richard Pickard, Deputy Head Teacher
“The Extricom system operates in a way that allows
seamless hand-over (between access points) and I
mean seamless, it was wonderful to watch the facial
expressions of the technical team as they literally
plugged and unplugged access points as fast as they
physically could without any degradation of connectivity
performance.”
Freed from co-channel interference and channelisation constraints, the Extricom
solution can ensure “wire-like” client connections, and a guaranteed and predictable
level of service for all users.
Log-on: reliable wire-like connections
Maximised capacity means students are not challenged by the simple act of logging on and every student gets the
throughput he or she needs to download streaming media from YouTube and BBC iPlayer, view faculty-generated Power-
Points, or take an on-line exam.

© Independent Computer Owners Network PLC. 2008. E&OE
Contact us
For more information visit www.icon-plc.co.uk,
contact ICON on 01727 730000, or
email info@icon-plc.co.uk
icon-plc.co.uk
Ref EX11 © ICON PLC 2015
Bishop Stortford College
Stephen Bacon, Head of Information Technology
“ What we were looking for was a system that would
be easy to manage, and provide a guaranteed
communication rate throughout the deployment area.
Basically, it was going to be a massive leap to attain the
superior performance demanded by today’s computer-
savvy connected students.
If I could refit the entire campus over again, Extricom
would be my box of choice. It simply does everything I
want it for.”
The Extricom WLAN is easily manageable, requires little RF experience, and does
not come with hidden charges that can make other solutions more expensive over the
lifetime of the system.
TCO & Manageability: no engineer call-outs
The technical merits of a WLAN solution are obvious considerations, but the choice of one technology over another can
often boil down to a basic issue: total cost of ownership. Extricom’s solution is an affordable package which features
a simple web-based management system, independence of the supplier’s engineers for changes in the future, and
above all, reliability of performance. This means that most changes can be done by the IT manager with no need for an
engineers to visit.
For almost a quarter of a century ICON has dis-
tributed wireless solutions in the UK. It represents
and distributes some of the worlds leading wireless
brands including.
Extricom WiFi infrastructure
Nomadix internet access solutions
Spectralink wireless handset solutions
BlueSky Wireless messaging
Multitone wireless messaging
Contact us to get more information about our
education solutions or to find a re-seller partner in
your area.
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Extricom is now owned by Allied Telesis a global vendor with an established presence
in the UK.
UK presence: invest with confidence
ICON, a distribution partner of Allied Telesis, supports a nationwide network of re-seller partners who are able to provide
solution advice and assistance to schools, colleges and universities across the country.

Wi-Fi Solutions for Education

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