Edupark, South Africa`s first skills and competency-based urban tertiary education institution, has installed a 3Com-based campus network, which will facilitate fast, reliable access to a wide range of business information and shared resources. The network has an estimated worth of R5-million over the next three years, and is part of Edupark`s R80-Million Rand educational development project. Edupark, which will officially open its doors during April 98, is situated on a 98 hectare campus in the Northern Province`s fast developing capital city of Pietersburg. The institution was initiated by the University of the North, which, in 1996 had to turn away 70 000 applicants because of no space - in conjunction with national and international partners as an association not for gain. Edupark director, John Wiltshire, points out that the Northern Province, South Africa`s most impoverished region, has all the potential to become a national asset. It spans an area of 116 824 square kilometres (9.6% of RSA) and has a population of 6.12 million which is growing at the rate of 10% per annum. "Having said this, it does not have the educational and technology facilities and the skilled work force it needs to supports its mining, commercial, agricultural and manufacturing activities," he explains. As a result, the Northern Province is forced to import skills while 47% of its population remains unemployed. Furthermore, the Northern Province`s proximity to Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique makes it ideally positioned to become South Africa`s northern gateway to and from the rest of Africa. He says that this is the reality that has shaped the concept of Edupark, South Africa`s first open model of education. "The main aim of Edupark is to meet the Northern Province`s burning need for tertiary educational institutions, nurture the career development of the region`s future generations, and provide essential Information Technology and research facilities." He says that Edupark is taking education an innovative step further by developing flexible career paths, offering students easy access to a broad spectrum of education and practical computer-based skills training. "Graduates will leave Edupark empowered, confident and equipped to participate in the local economy," he says. "In order for students to be prepared for tomorrow`s economy, interactive learning needs to be an essential part of the curriculum. In addition, office administrators can share business processes and improve the sharing of resources among the various institutions." The new campus network will link a diverse range of self-funding, independent universities, technikons, educational and vocational institutes that will work together for the nation`s upliftment and which will share capital-intensive facilities such as the advanced computer centre and sophisticated network. The various independent institutions include: The Language Centre, The Sports Science Institute, The National Community Water and Sanitation Training Institute, The Institute of Vocational and Technical Education and Training (VOTEK), The Pietersburg School for Legal Practice, and The Graduate School Of Leadership. "This innovative concept of shared facilities, combined with Edupark`s commitment to a sound management and Information Technology infrastructure, is already proving to be a financially viable, cost-effective and sustainable venture," says Wiltshire. "We needed technology which would fall in line with our Edupark vision of empowered people for an empowered South Africa. Edupark is the most technologically advanced institution on the African continent." "Our adoption of a modern approach with regard to using technology to educate will help us attain our goal of making information easily available within the campus via the various distributed computer points in the campus and ensuring access for all students both on-site and remotely." He points out that networks have reached the point where they are no longer a luxury, but an educational necessity. "By investing in a state-of-the-art network, Edupark has a high-performance infrastructure that will meet its technology needs well into the future," he says. "We took the strategic decision to build a solid IT structure and advanced computer centre with a network which could provide effective cost of ownership with the view of integrating future technologies." 3Com SA`s Advanced Solutions Partner (ASP) DNS Networking, was responsible for the design, supply and implementation of the entire network. According to DNS account manager, Wessel Wessels, the network backbone is based on 3Com`s CoreBuilder 2500 Fast Ethernet layer 3 switch product because it offered the most advanced performance and benefits at the most competitive cost. "This product will enable the institute to implement enterprise-wide virtual local area networks for more efficient segmentation of users and provides the network with the bandwidth needed to transfer information between different buildings," he says. 3Com`s SuperStack II Hub 40 Ethernet hub was installed at the edge of the network. "This particular 3Com network Hub incorporates sophisticated segmentation, management and redundancy features at a cost effective price," says Wessels. "This gives complete control over bandwidth allocation and simplifies the task of adds, moves and changes and ease of configuration. It also enables manual changes to take place remotely without disrupting Edupark`s live user base." Network intelligence has been taken from the edge of the network to the desktop with the deployment of 3Com`s 10/100 Fast Ethernet Network Interface cards (NICs) in Edupark`s three training centres and throughout the buildings, to connect live PC users to the network printers and notebook computers. "The NICs provide the capability to maximise network responsiveness when additional bandwidth is necessary and feature 3Com`s advanced Dynamic Access software for optimising overall network performance," he adds. "An added benefit provided by the 3Com network infrastructure is the fact that it will provide network access via the Internet for research purposes," says Edupark`s Wiltshire. "Students and teachers will be able to easily share information and engage in collaborative learning projects in a variety of academic disciplines with other universities and institutions around the world." 3Com`s Enterprise Transcend Network Management software tool has been installed to enable every device in the network to be easily configured, monitored and centrally managed from a single management console. Transcend provides the Edupark IT manager with a quick way to view the information, make business decisions and present the results to management in an easy, concise and understandable format and can be generated where ever they are needed in a variety of output formats. Wiltshire says that DNS was chosen as Edupark`s supplier, due to its partnership and project oriented approach and efficient support infrastructure - an essential consideration considering the magnitude of the entire project. "We believe in outsourcing all possible services to experts and with regard to IT, a company which could manage our entire support infrastructure," explains Wiltshire. "We were also trying to keep operational costs as low as possible and DNS was in the position, under a tailored maintenance agreement to provide on-site administration of the network using local support staff, as well as a remote support and backup service managed from its Johannesburg offices." 3Com was chosen as the networking vendor of choice largely due to its leadership in the educational arena world-wide as well as its portfolio of leading Ethernet and Fast Ethernet products. "We wanted the best technology at the best price - 3Com were able to offer substantial discounts on the total investment under the banner of its Academia educational programme, " he adds. Internationally, 3Com has proven its worth in the educational field with a number of network installations including Selford University in the UK and Pennsylvania in the US. Locally, Stellenbosch University and the University Of the North have both installed 3Com-based Campus Networks.
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