Erate Services for Schools and Libraries in Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas

The best Wi-Fi – to sustain digital learning

• Industry leading performance from a decade of development with 100+ of patents in RF and wireless
• Fewer APs needed per school or district thanks to stronger connections and less co-channel interference achieved via breakthrough technologies:
  • Ruckus Beamflex™ adaptive beamforming focuses RF energy only where it’s needed regardless of device location and physical orientation
  • Ruckus SmartCast™ advanced QoS and heuristic traffic queuing for unmatched airtime fairness
  • Ruckus ChannelFly™ addresses the problem of more devices and choked ‘air lanes’ by using machine learning to dynamically move clients to the best available channel to optimize throughput
• Only the Ruckus R610 (3×3:3 AP) is proven to sustain 60 HD video streams under data load to 1:1 Chromebooks, versus similar APs in its class, as validated by Devin Akin, respected industry authority on WLAN technology

Wi-Fi Vendor Video Stress Test Report (Divergent Dynamics, Sep’17)

Victor Central School District – (Video Case Study) or (PDF)

The best switching – to scale network capacity

• Long distance stacking (up to 12 switches) between closets, floors or buildings, up to 10 km
• Ruckus Campus Fabric allows up to 1,800 ports managed under a single IP address!
• Port extenders inherit (for free!) the advanced features of the control bridge
• Upgradeable uplinks (1GbE to 10GbE) with a software license, no hardware changes required
• Uplinks on premium ICX access switches can be upgraded – either 1GbE to 10GbE to 40GbE with only a module change; or 40GbE to 100GbE with a simple configuration command

The best secure access solution – to protect student privacy

• Secure every connection to your school network, with identity, without being a security expert
• Ruckus Cloudpath provides a simple, secure self-service onboarding portal for 1:1 and BYOD devices while being vendor agnostic wired or wireless (HP/Aruba, Cisco/Meraki, Extreme, etc.)
• Deploy the gold standard in wireless security AND avoid password tyranny with its user frustration
• Students can pre-enroll their devices before they arrive to campus in the fall – unique to Ruckus
• For CIPA compliance, restore content filtering of HTTPS traffic using a trusted man-in-the-middle proxy. Ruckus works with major content filters and firewalls to simplify this deployment option
• Cloud subscription option available – unique to Ruckus

The best Chromebook infrastructure – to sustain digital learning

• 1:1 Chromebook deployments are 1-click simple for network provisioning because Cloudpath is integrated to the Chrome Extension of Google Admin Console
• Be certain which Chromebooks are IT-provided vs. BYOD because Cloudpath is integrated with Google’s Verified Access API^[1]
• Only the Ruckus R610 AP (3×3:3) is proven to sustain 60 HD video streams under data load to 1:1 Chromebooks across two classrooms, versus similar APs in its class, as validated by Devin Akin, respected authority on WLAN technology
• For CIPA compliance, restore content filtering of HTTPS traffic using a trusted man-in-the-middle proxy. Ruckus works with major content filter and firewall vendors to simplify this deployment option which makes Chrome users safer from harmful adult content or cyber attack

The best APs for cloud-managed Wi-Fi – to simplify management

• Easy to manage, with an intent-driven user interface which hides complexity and makes common tasks quick and intuitive. For example, adding a social login network takes a minute with no training, while Meraki takes over 5 minutes with training (it’s complicated!)
• The only fully featured mobile app, Ruckus lets you manage your network from anywhere or on-the-go: provision guest access, receive alerts, or even deploy a new AP – all from the smartphone you always carry!
• The best Wi-Fi, now in the cloud. Thanks to Beamflex+ and SmartCast, only Ruckus left no student unserved in recent independent testing of mid-range 802.11ac APs.  Meraki and Aerohive could not sustain digital learning or deliver as much throughput while under data load. Not even with dual 5GHz radios.  See the benchmark test report below.
• Have the right tool for the job, since all of our 802.11ac APs can be cloud-managed – indoors, outdoors, wall switch, entry, mid-range and top performance
• When your cloud subscription expires, your APs still serve clients (but without cloud management). Renew, or choose to manage your APs yourself with controller-less or controller-managed options. Ask other vendors if their APs will continue to serve clients, or simply cease to serve.

Wi-Fi Vendor Video Stress Test Report (Divergent Dynamics, Sep’17)

The most future-proof solution – to sustain digital learning

• Uplinks on all ICX access switches can be upgraded without replacing the switch – either 1GbE to 10GbE, 10GbE to 40GbE or 40GbE to 100GbE depending on the switch.
• Stacking up to 12 switches; Campus Fabric up to 36 switches without increasing management touch-points
• Flexible switch deployment options: standalone, stacking, Campus Fabric with same switches
• Flexible AP deployment options: unmanaged, cloud-managed, on premise or virtual management with same APs

The ideal Multi-Gigabit solution for schools – affordable performance for next 5 years

• Purpose-built multi-gigabit AP and switch designed to deliver optimized performance for 802.11ac Wave 2
• First multi-gigabit (2.5GbE) entry-level switch – available at a small premium over 1GbE switches (same price as some 1GbE switches), less than half the list price of competitive multi-gigabit switches
• Up to 16 multi-gigabit ports per 48-port switch (most competitors only offer 8- or 12-ports)
• Up to 8 x 10GbE uplinks for no oversubscription in high density wireless deployment
• Highest PoE budget. Full PoE/PoE+ on all ports up to 90W per port.
• Supports existing Cat 5e cabling, no new cables or upgrades required
• Future-proofs requirements for 5+ years
• Note: Full 2.5/5/10GbE multi-gigabit options for ultimate future-proofing also available for less than competitive options

20 years of experience with Erate — Service and solutions you can trust

SomethingCool.com staff have worked with the Erate system for over 20 years, on both sides of the system. We stay up-to-date on what is acceptable, and what is not. We provide professional installation, as well as support for internal connections. Contact us today today at (855)609-2665 for more information.