Enhancing Education with Collaborative Tools
Inspired by three centuries of the distinctive spirituality of the Christian Brothers, La Salle educates the whole person, developing young men in their unique talents and strengths. A core program balances academics, athletics, the arts and community service. An academically diverse student body discovers an independence of thought and action that promotes a sense of individual responsibility.
Challenges
La Salle College High School is a school which leverages
technology to differentiate itself in a competitive private school marketplace.
However, La Salle was in serious need of updating its outdated and unmanageable
phone system. Their phone system is a critical component of day to day business
operations, student communication, IT educational programs and emergency system
outreach. With the existing phone system past end of support and the
manufacturer out of business, La Salle was unable to make the necessary changes
to the existing system. Dropped calls were common and security was at-risk
without a reliable emergency response system.
Solutions
In order to provide a reliable, safe, secure and
technologically advanced phone system that would serve the needs of faculty,
students, parents, board members, donors and all those who interact with the
school, Weidenhammer:
- Laid the foundation for a VoIP phone solution by
implementing a CISCO network infrastructure several years earlier
- Worked with the client to determine that Cisco’s
Unified Communications Platform would satisfy the school’s communication
requirements
- Ensured the new phone system provided
scalability to support future initiatives
- Selected Singlewire’s Informacast, a new
campus-wide security solution which dramatically improved La Salle’s emergency
notification system
Results
Since the new telephone and emergency communication
system has been installed and implemented, documented results have shown:
- Deeper control, stability and redundancy/high
availability
- A growing return on investment through increased
productivity
- Expanded capabilities to provide new educational
opportunities
- Enhancement of La Salle’s image and branding as
a “technology school”
