Following some years of unsatisfactory performance from a network installed by the largest supplier of educational IT equipment, when
it came to renewing our network, we were keen to find an alternative. Along with LEA ICT staff, we visited a nearby school in another authority which was running Ranger Suite on Epic hardware. I was very impressed with the quality of the equipment and the speed, flexibility and robustness of the network: all features we were desperate to feature in our network. The network manager spoke highly of the service provided by Epic.

The Epic sales staff listened carefully to my description of what I wanted the network to do. Not only is it distributed throughout the school for pupil learning, I also wanted staff to use the network to access the admin server and to be able to use Outlook as a school diary and internal email service. This led to a complicated design involving the separate admin and curriculum servers being linked.

The network was installed efficiently and on time. The installation engineers worked closely with LEA ICT staff and the school network manager. This helped the local staff learn about the network and Ranger Suite. Inevitably, with a network of this compexity (28 workstations and 15 wireless laptops), there have been teething problems. However, Epic have been extremely supportive, visiting school to fix issues related to installation and providing phone support to local staff if required. Following the installation of the network, it was decided to use one workstation in each classroom to drive a Promethean IWB. This was accomplished very easily, with absolutely no difficulties in installing the Promethean software.

We have had an excellent start. Already, teachers' confidence has grown and pupils and staff enjoy using the computers.

Alan Harding,
Birch Hill Primary School, Bracknell Forest