Networking
Case study: BT Leased Line for GFM
A faster, reliable, and cost-saving network solution for a multi-academy trust.
June 17, 2021
4 minutes
Networking
Case study: BT Leased Line for GFM
A faster, reliable, and cost-saving network solution for a multi-academy trust.
June 17, 2021
4 minutes
When several schools combined to become a multi-academy trust, GFM, they needed a reliable network to share information, along with a better connection, faster speeds, and lower costs.
A BTnet Leased Line was installed, and sites were connected with point-to-point BT Short Haul Data Service (BT SHDS), for reduced costs, increased control and much faster internet speeds.
The total annual cost, like for like, has gone from £56,000 to £26,000. What’s more, GFM has full visibility and control, with the capacity for expansion.
Four schools in Hampshire wanted to join forces to offer better opportunities to their students by combining their skills and resources. By working with BT, they were able to save money on their network and given a fast and easy solution to manage.
Four schools in Hampshire wanted to join forces to offer better opportunities to their students by combining their skills and resources. By working with BT, they were able to save money on their network and given a fast and easy solution to manage.
When Bay House Academy, Brune Park Community School, Gomer Junior School and LWS Academy combined to become a multi-academy trust called GFM, they knew they needed a reliable network to handle up to 4000 students. They wanted to share information, software packages, and equipment, and they needed a better connection and faster speeds.
Each school was paying a significant amount of money to their local authority for network access and individual firewalls. “All four schools were each paying £56,000 a year, just for their broadband,” explains Ross Evans, founder and CEO of Real Essential IT Solutions – the company hired to ensure that GFM got the right network.
“And one site was paying them £165,000 a year just for their equipment.” As well as the cost, the speed was only 100Mbps, and if they wanted to unblock certain sites, the staff would have to contact Hampshire Local Authority and wait days for it to be actioned.
Working with a BT Account Manager and a team of experts, GFM was given a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with the speed and capacity they needed and slashing their costs. A BTnet dedicated leased line internet access circuit was placed into Bay House Academy, with a Short Haul Data Service (SHDS) running to the other schools nearby. They also got a Smoothwall Firewall security solution, which allowed the schools to control their own settings and see how the children were using their devices.
The system set-up has the capacity for other schools to join the GFM – by adding more Short Haul Data Services to the network – and will soon have a resilient failover circuit, so that if anything happens to their exchange, it can move over to another one.
I knew that we needed a leased line, and I knew that BT could do it. Gomer School has gone from almost unusable to ‘wow’. I’m really happy with how it’s gone.
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