Holly Area School District Deploys Aerohive's Wireless LAN Solution and Apple Mobile Devices to Give its Students a Better Learning Experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif., February, 28, 2011 - Aerohive Networks, creators of the award-winning cooperative control wireless LAN (WLAN) architecture, today announced that Holly Area School District, located in Holly, Michigan, has deployed an Aerohive Wireless LAN (WLAN) solution throughout its school district.

Among Holly Area School District's top requirements for Wi-Fi included a WLAN solution that was optimized for voice traffic and one that could seamlessly accommodate a plethora of Apple mobile devices.

News Facts

  • Holly Area School District located in Holly, Michigan is comprised of four elementary schools, one middle school, one high school and a multi-program campus. Aerohive APs support over 3,700 students, 300 teachers and staff and coverage for 800,000 square feet of facilities.
  • Holly Area School District realized having mobility and wireless access could help them achieve their goal of creating a 21st century learning environment for its students. This meant providing students with interactive learning tools on the go and the applications that run on them with a goal of keeping the kids engaged in a way that old-school practices, such as pencils and paper (or even Windows-based tools) are not capable of achieving. Mobile devices are at the heart of Holly School's 21C digital learning environment.
  • The school district also decided that a reliable voice-over-Wi-Fi solution was required to affordably solve its mobile communications problem. Mobile devices were used by administration and staff, and yet cell phone reception was not available inside the buildings. The decision was made to move from Blackberry devices to iPhone 4s, but the cost of enabling 3G was prohibitive. By deploying Aerohive's WLAN solution, this problem has been solved. Administrators now make and receive phone calls via the Skype iPhone application. When outside the schools they utilize the normal 3G wireless signal, then when entering the building they toggle on the Call Forwarding to the Skype phone number and turn on the Skype application.
  • About 100 iPads have been distributed for the students' use thus far, and there are about 20 iPhones in use by staff with a total of 30 wireless cell phones that are Wi-Fi-enabled. District-wide there are 1,500 computers. As far as its need for enhanced instruction, communication and productivity, teachers are now bringing in their own smartphones and iPads and requesting to be granted access to the Wi-Fi network.
  • To read the full Holly Area School District case study, please visit http://www.aerohive.com/resources/holly-area-school-district.

Comments

"I like how agile Aerohive is," said Matt Mello, Director of Technology at Holly Area School District. "I can provision consistent SSIDs across the district and yet have different, user specific, profiles and security. There is a lot of flexibility enabled by that, and that was a major advantage over all the other Wi-Fi manufacturers there are to choose from."

"Apple's heritage is ease of use and exceptional value. Aerohive's engineering, performance and support dovetail with Apple's innovative approach. Aerohive easily provides a well performed, secure and easy to manage connection for our MacBooks, iMacs, iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices," continued Mello.

"The Aerohive wireless solution adds a key piece of technology that enables us to achieve our goals of 21C learning," concluded Mello.

About Aerohive Networks
Aerohive unleashes the potential of enterprise Wi-Fi, enabling customers to stop buying copper, to move applications to the air, and to maximize workforce productivity. The company's award-winning cooperative architecture and cloud-based network management eliminate costly controllers, saves money and provides unprecedented resiliency, up to 10X better application performance, and an opportunity to start small and expand without limitations. Aerohive was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. The company's investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Northern Light Venture Capital. For more information, please visit www.aerohive.com, call us at 408-510-6100, follow us on Twitter @Aerohive, subscribe to our blog or become a fan on our Facebook page.