Mersey Drive Primary School currently has 165 pupils with 30 staff and also has two units for special needs children with autism.
The school was originally two schools side by side and was amalgamated to become Mersey Drive Primary School some years ago. The school only had internet access in their IT suite in the main building, which caused problems for both staff and children, based next door.
Luckily for the school, the son of one of the teachers, Andrew Goodman works for Pennine Telecom and when he heard about their plight, he spoke to his bosses who agreed to donate the equipment. Andrew and colleague Chris Lishman, Pennine Telecom's ICT specialist, installed the two Buffalo Airstations in their spare time.
“The buildings are only separated by 20 metres, but a wireless link makes all the difference to the children and staff. They can now access email, the internet as well as the school network. We were happy to help them out.” said Chris.
“We are very grateful to Pennine Telecom and to Andrew and Chris who worked in their own time to get the network up and running,” said Linda Parker, head teacher at Mersey Drive. “This wonderful gift has saved the school a lot of money. Being able to access the internet is a real benefit to the staff, and helps the children with their learning.”
Horizon announces “White Label” Professional Services to support ShoreTel channel
Horizon Solutions, the Unified Communications Division of Horizon UK, part of Avnet Technology Solutions Ltd, has announced a range of 'white label' professional services (PS) in support of its growing ShoreTel partner community. The services which include on-site installation; project management, network assessment (pre or post implementation) and a number of different maintenance service offerings will be provided by fully qualified Horizon engineering resources.
Wayne Gratton, Horizon's Unified Communications Director said: “Our services are designed to support our business partners when they either don't have the required skills in-house, or at times of peak demand when their engineering staff are already fully deployed. Our philosophy is to support our partners during the whole sales lifecycle, and uniquely in the telecoms channel, as we don't have a direct sales ability, our partners can “badge” our services confident in the knowledge that we don't have a hidden agenda.”
Horizon Solutions specialises in providing unique integration support for the growing Unified Communications (UC) technologies channel. Horizon is focused on working with IP based communications networks that integrate Voice over IP (VoIP) and video over IP with data networks to create robust and more efficient business communication tools.
“We are really pleased to see Horizon's continuing investment in their ShoreTel business and I feel sure that our reselling partners will appreciate how Horizon are making success with ShoreTel a really compelling proposition” said Mark Swensden, Vice President of Sales EMEA ShoreTel. “We have always been impressed by Horizon's deep knowledge and experience as an integrating distributor and are delighted that they are addressing the need for increased Professional service skills in the channel.” He continued.