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Knowledge
Network appoints CiTEC for Internet access at
Roedean School (South Africa)
CiTEC
is strengthening its position as a leading
Internet supplier to top independent schools,
following its latest appointment by Knowledge
Network to provide Internet Access to Roedean
School (SA).
South
Africa's premier Internet Access Provider (IAP),
CiTEC is a true tier one IAP as opposed to the
tier two ISPs (Internet Service Providers).
Its
latest deal follows hot on the heels of an earlier
announcement in which Redhill School opted for the
high reliability that CiTEC guarantees.
Roedean
School (SA) is the oldest girls' school in the
country, established in 1903, with links to
Roedean in England. The school caters for 780 day
girls and boarders from Grade 0 to matric.
Traditionally the school has been highly academic,
boasting a consistent 100% university entrance
pass rate. The staff are hand-picked and highly
qualified at all levels.
Roedean's
head of publicity, Margaret Westgate, says the
school considers computer literacy essential at
all levels from the beginning, so even Grade O's
have access to the school's 130 computers.
"We
have instituted a new technology education course
and technology centre, where computers play an
integral part. We want our girls to go out into
the world able to deal with the next
century."
The
entire project was handled for Roedean School (SA)
by Knowledge Network, a company specialising in
integrated technology solutions for schools.
Knowledge Network was appointed by Roedean School
(SA) in July 1999 to oversee and manage the IT
environment at the school and provide the school
with an IT curriculum to ensure that learners are
equipped with the skills they need for life in the
information age.
Knowledge
Network, project managers for Roedean School (SA),
explains that the company manages all IT solutions
for the school, including the Internet connection
and expansion of the computer centre.
"All
computers in the school have Internet access via
the CiTEC backbone. CiTEC will be hosting the
school's web site as well as its intranet. Other
services are the firewall, as well as proxy and
cache for the Internet service which speeds up
access."
Knowledge
Network says there were many factors that
contributed to Knowledge Network' s decision to
appoint CiTEC for Roedean School (SA). "There
are very few organisations that could guarantee
bandwidth as CiTEC does. The company also provides
an all-encompassing service, an important issue
for any school."
As
part of this service, CiTEC bought back Roedean's
old router, and gave the school discount on the
new router. Another major issue, according to
Knowledge Network, is the security CiTEC provides.
"This allows for quick and easy blocking of
undesirable sites at short notice."
Roedean
School (SA) IT co-ordinator, Jackie Topping,
explains that the CiTEC line will be used by
pupils and staff for Internet access, email and
research. She notes that the school chose CiTEC
because of the reasonable price and echoes
Knowledge Network's sentiments about service.
Topping
stresses that the installation is invaluable for
maintaining computer literacy and that it will fit
in with the Knowledge Network syllabus the school
is following.
CiTEC's
account manager, Nicci Petrides, says in Knowledge
Network's evaluation, CiTEC offered the most
value-added services. "This is the major
difference between an ISP and IAP like CiTEC.
"We
are proud of this installation because Roedean
School (SA) was first referred to us by Redhill
where we have a successful site, and then this
choice was confirmed by Knowledge Network's
independent findings."
About
CiTEC
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CiTEC
is a tier one, true IAP, which conforms to
international standards in every respect and
is the only IAP to offer Service Level
Agreements (SLAs) with respect to uptime,
latency delay and throughput.
-
Unlike
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which
manage Internet access to the point of entry
to the public network - which is often
unreliable - CiTEC is able to guarantee access
by managing the network right into the
clients' premises.
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Currently
its infrastructure is concentrated in
Johannesburg, Durban, Windhoek, Cape Town and
New York, while another approximately 48 major
areas have been identified as having the
potential to attain the critical mass needed
to roll out high speed last-mile solutions.
About
Knowledge Network
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Knowledge Network, established in 1994, specialises
in integrated technology solutions for schools, the
development of teachers and learners in schools, IT
Project Management for Schools and IT skills
training for companies.
-
Currently over 180 teachers present the Knowledge
Network IT Learning System for schools to over
20,000 learners in their schools.
-
Knowledge Network's learning methodology ILAMM
(Integrated Learning and Mentoring Methodology) is
used by the teachers to develop creativity, lateral
learning, logic, IT and life skills to prepare
learners for their role as knowledge workers in the
information age - the business world they are set to
inherit.
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