School gets wireless net connection

Jun 11 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

CHILDREN in Northumberland schools will be given access to wireless internet at school following a £1m contract win for a North East firm.

KBR IT & Networking Solutions, of Birtley, County Durham, has won a deal to deliver wireless access to over 200 schools throughout the county.

The wireless infrastructure will also include communications systems for teachers who will be able to manage the curriculum, personalised learning agendas and admin around the clock.

The contract comes as part of Northumberland County Council’s Wireless Networking initiative which aims to give over 40,000 children in the county access to mobile working.

KBR’s sales and marketing director Robin Price said: “We’re delighted to have won this competitive tender and are confident that we will be able to assist the council in meeting its goals for the future.”

By the end of this year, the council will install more than 4,000 mobility points which provide multi-site roaming capabilities and controlled guest and public access.

Richard Taylor, of the council’s children’s services directorate, said: “We required a comprehensive, managed enterprise wireless network capable of meeting our specification for a large number of devices in schools.

“It’s the future of education – one device per pupil – and we’ve already seen real growth in the number of netbooks, laptops and PDAs used in schools.”