Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the It Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee reviews plan to replace end‑of‑life distribution switches and add battery backups using E‑Rate funds
Summary
IT staff outlined an E‑Rate‑funded plan to replace end‑of‑life distribution switches at schools, expand bandwidth from 1Gb to 10Gb, and add APC battery backups in selected closets to preserve connectivity during outages.
District IT staff briefed the committee on a proposal to replace end‑of‑life distribution switches that distribute Internet connectivity across school buildings and to install APC battery backups in selected closets. Staff said the replacements would increase per‑school bandwidth from 1 gigabit to up to 10 gigabits and provide the district with better visibility into network traffic and security patch status.
The project would use E‑Rate funding for the eligible equipment and services; the district would pay a local match percentage. IT staff explained that replacing switches and adding battery protection allows quicker troubleshooting and helps ensure classrooms retain connectivity during power interruptions.
Committee members asked about battery run time and whether cellular failover options were available for devices; staff said run time depends on load and that districtwide cellular connectivity for all devices would be cost‑prohibitive, though some systems (alarms, elevators) often include cellular failover.
Why it matters: Replacing aging network infrastructure and adding battery backups improves classroom connectivity, security monitoring and resilience to outages; the committee supported advancing the project and asked IT to provide technical run‑time estimates for proposed APCs.
