Vail School District Takes InterMapper to the Cutting Edge
Customer: Matt Federoff, Director of Technology
Company: Vail School District
Location: Vail, Arizona (20 miles south of Tucson)
Business: Provides K-12 education to children in large, quickly growing public school district.
InterMapper's Role: InterMapper monitors an Ethernet network with point-to-point wireless that serves 13 schools.
Quote: “We love the interface and love the pricing.”
Watch InterMapper in action at Vail.
Vail School District is one of the fastest growing in Arizona and possibly one of the best known in the nation. Vail continues to generate headlines with its all-laptop, no-textbook Empire High School that opened in 2005.
“Each one of Empire's 600 students has an iBook,” reports Matt Federoff, Vail's Director of IT. “The school has 87 access points and students and teachers rely on on-line resources for content and network connections for homework delivery and communication.” Vail's bold move toward student use of laptops has positioned it as a technology leader among public schools – a district to watch.
Federoff leads of team of IT managers that mind the district's technology from the administrative offices throughout each school; Empire High School and 12 other schools that comprise Vail's district. The southern Arizona topology greatly simplifies the network infrastructure that connects schools to the district offices. “We have lots of open space and no trees,” says Federoff. “We have a really straightforward set-up – all Ethernet with point to point wireless connecting our edge sites.”
Even straightforward network infrastructures need to be carefully monitored. Federoff describes his InterMapper installation as “so cool. I have three monitors above my desk that show maps of the whole district. It looks like NASA. The Superintendent brings visitors in here to show them.”
Federoff's real-time view of network connections and devices alerts him to problems before they are noticed at individual schools. “I can see that a server is down before a site notices a problem. Or I might see that a server is running low on disk space. I can call the school and let them know what's up so they can get right on it.”
Along with maps, graphs help Vail IT staff note network wide problems. Abnormal traffic patterns once indicated a virus outbreak on the network.
Revealing day to day problems are InterMapper's bread and butter at Vail but Federoff also uses reported data for strategic planning. “As the district I can see where pipes have to be enlarged or ratcheted back,” explains Federoff.
Most recently, InterMapper has helped with Vail's VoIP roll-out, a process which is very near completion. As school's come on-line with VoIP services, InterMapper reports traffic upticks and allows comparison to previous traffic baselines. That helps Federoff ensure that network services continue to accommodate all demands.
Vail has been using InterMapper for “at least six years” and will continue to grow its installation along with the district network. “We have a new elementary school coming on line and will be using InterMapper to look at those new connections. I'll know that everything is running smoothly before school opens,” anticipates Federoff.
While InterMapper's feature set and interface have long appealed to Federoff, he also appreciates Dartware's dedication to customer service. “For a while they'd come up with a new version and would let schools pay on their budget schedule. That's a nice testament to the company's heart.”