District Administration - May 2009 - (Page 33)

nal about his philosophy of government IT structure. “I look at my lifestyle, and I want access to information wherever I am. I am killing projects that don’t investigate software as a service [in the cloud] first.” Impact on District Management In K12 education, cloud computing holds incredible promise for improving efficiency and reducing costs relating to maintenance and installation, particularly in district administrative functions. As more resources move online into the cloud, the need for constantly upgraded software, computers and local servers rapidly erodes, saving time and money. HP is planning cloud computing pilot programs in several school districts in the coming months. Andrew Wright, director of technology for the Brighton (Colo.) School District 27J, uses SaaS (“software as a service,” or cloudbased software) IT asset management program SchoolDude. “We have exact “The cloud enables school administrators to have huge capabilities at their disposal.” —Anthony Salcito, general manager of education, Microsoft numbers at all times, and the SaaS structure made it fast and easy to implement,” says Wright in comparing the service to other programs. “Cloud computing offers tremendous opportunities for schools to think differently about using software,” says Anthony Salcito, general manager of education at Microsoft. “The cloud enables school administrators to have huge capabilities at their disposal.” Ironically, however, many administrators are already using the cloud for a variety of district management tasks, usually without realizing that they are in fact standing at the edge of the future. The revolution is just beginning, but administrators will soon see more of their func- tions becoming cloud-based, not just for convenience and cost savings but out of true necessity. “A lot of existing administrative technology is practically at the breaking point in many school districts,” says Louis Masi, director of global university programs at IBM. “Moving such services into the cloud [instead of relying on local software] enables administrators to use technology more to their advantage, instead of always trying to keep up.” DA www.DistrictAdministration.com Watch Kurt Dyrli’s companion video to this article explaining cloud computing. Kurt O. Dyrli is products editor. Students Complaining of Slow Internet? Combine inexpensive DSL/Cables broadband connections to accelerate your Internet with a Peplink Balance Multi-WAN Router. Enhance Students Learning Experience with Increased Network Speed. The Peplink Balance 710 can help your school to keep up with the increasing Internet bandwidth demand. Just add new DSL/Cable connections, and the Peplink Balance Multi-WAN Router will utilize all links to route traﬃc using Load Balancing Algorithms. Plus, your can optimize your network ﬂow by using its Traﬃc Manager policies. Now every student can work online more productively! Save Money without Losing Reliability. Lower your budget immediately by cutting your leased line or any other expensive Internet connections. Buy a Peplink Balance Multi-WAN Router, switch to a combination of low-cost Internet connections, and your Internet expense will be reduced dramatically. In case any link fails, the Balance will automatically reroute traﬃc to the healthy connections, giving you the Internet reliability your school has never experienced before. Even more aﬀordable with Education Discount! Please visit: http://www.peplink.com/edu-discount/ www.peplink.com www.DistrictAdministration.com May 2009 33 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com http://www.peplink.com http://www.peplink.com http://www.peplink.com/edu-discount/ http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - May 2009

District Administration - May 2009
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Facilities
Supervisor’s Opinion
Community Relations
Technology and Learning
Human Resources
Technology
Profile
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Problem Solution
New Products
Product Focus
Tech Disruptions

District Administration - May 2009