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Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of professional and managed services for IT Lifecycle Solutions, is seeing strong growth in its solutions and services to the education sector, company officials said today. To support academic and administrative objectives, reduce overhead and accommodate future growth, educators are making significant investments in key technology and infrastructure upgrades. According to recent market research(1) from Compass Intelligence, education IT spending is on the rise and will reach more than $56 billion by 2012 -- up more than 17.8% from a projected $47.7 billion in 2008.
Expenditures on security, wireless networking and telecommunications top the list: In 2008 alone, telecom expenses will account for nearly $16 billion, with wireless technology following closely at $13 billion and security accounting for another $9 billion, notes Compass. However, the research also shows that the fastest rate of growth is spending on outsourced IT services, which is on-target to outpace all other education IT-related expenditures in the next four years. The report notes that the recent trend in educational institutions seeking to modernize and upgrade infrastructure has been driven in part by recent government mandates in the National Education Technology Plan, part of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act.
Presidio, a Cisco Gold partner and provider of network infrastructure and advanced technology solutions, is seeing unprecedented demand from educators looking to deploy secure wireless networks and integrated data center technologies. Presidio reports that replacing legacy infrastructure with unified communications and advanced wireless networking solutions can greatly reduce the cost of integrating multi-site campuses, and is an efficient way to provide a broad new range of enhanced learning and service features.
"Implementing and sustaining a robust IT infrastructure is now a strategic imperative in education," said Dave Hart, Chief Technology Officer for Presidio Networked Solutions. "Education IT departments on every level, from K-12 to higher education, are undertaking major retooling efforts, even under increased pressure to reduce costs. Educators recognize that by replacing outdated technology with future-ready solutions, they can gain security and mobility, streamline operations and reduce operating expenses overall. It's the most cost-effective way to provide students with superior learning opportunities while increasing the productivity, effectiveness and collaboration of faculty and staff."
Presidio cites recent successes in multifaceted projects for two major educational institutions, St. Lucie Public School District in Florida and Massachusetts-based Becker College, as examples of the range of capabilities it can provide educators looking to modernize and streamline their processes:
St. Lucie Public School District: The St. Lucie school board turned to Presidio to develop and implement a wireless learning environment for its students and faculty, and to retrofit the existing classrooms with state-of-the-art audiovisual systems. Presidio deployed secure, robust and fully redundant local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) infrastructures that provide the district with centralized wireless network management and indoor/outdoor wireless access throughout its 42 campuses. Thanks to this increased flexibility, St. Lucie students now enjoy a superior "anywhere, anytime" learning experience and advanced modern classrooms that enable teachers to readily adapt to students' individual learning styles.
"Our customers are our students, teachers, and community. We are confident all will benefit from this advanced new solution and that it will help move us from a good district to a great district," said Terence O'Leary, Assistant Superintendent of Informational and Instructional Technology for St. Lucie School District. "The Presidio and Cisco implementation is reliable and simple to use, which was vital to teachers and students adopting it. The companies brought not only knowledge and high-quality resources to the project, but also a strong partnership that remains in place today. I highly recommend Presidio and Cisco, and look forward to working with them as we equip our remaining schools and beyond."
Becker College: To better serve its faculty, staff and students, Becker College made the strategic decision to upgrade its Centrex voice solution and legacy network infrastructure. Impressed by Presidio's comprehensive pre-sales engineering support, unflinching high standards in methodology and deployment, and the depth of local engineering talent available to support them in all stages of the project, Becker entrusted the multi-campus endeavor to Presidio.
Working in tandem with Becker's IT department, Presidio deployed a new data network across two separate campuses and a Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure that provided significant cost savings by eliminating hundreds of costly Centrex lines. With a solid data network and VoIP infrastructure in position, Presidio and Becker's IT staff were able to leverage Cisco's award-winning solutions and install a campus-wide wireless network that services common areas, classrooms, underserved areas, and buildings where hardwiring was an issue. With the updated data, voice and wireless infrastructures, Becker students, staff and faculty are now able to communicate freely between campuses, while the college maintains its competitive edge in recruiting new students. Presidio's installation of comprehensive Cisco security solutions across its data and wireless networks gives Becker College peace of mind that, no matter how or where data is accessed, its information assets are safe and secure.
Presidio Networked Solutions provides a comprehensive portfolio of professional and managed services offerings that are augmented by its collaboration with Presidio Managed Networks and Presidio Technology Capital. By facilitating network and device management out-tasking, Presidio Managed Networks allows schools to affordably expand their IT departments and free up IT staff members to focus on internal objectives. Presidio Technology Capital provides a full range of financial support options to assist in the procurement of advanced technology upgrades that include capital preservation and predictive technology refresh, as well as flexible programs such as FAS 13 operating leases, off-balance sheet leasing, project finance, and equipment decommissioning.
About Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc.
Presidio Networked Solutions, Inc, the leading provider of advanced IT Lifecycle Solutions, addresses the complete technology lifecycle -- plan, design, integrate, operate and optimize -- for the enterprise, commercial and government markets. Presidio's comprehensive solutions portfolio comprises unified communications, wireless, security, storage, network infrastructure and managed services. Holding the highest networking industry certifications from vendor partners Cisco, IBM, Sun, EMC, NetApp, VMware and Microsoft, Presidio Networked Solutions is well positioned to meet the growing needs of customers migrating to advanced technologies. Presidio also offers customers an extensive range of financing solutions, including leasing.
(1)Source: Education Snapshot: Learning with Technology -- by Compass Intelligence, July 2008
Presidio Networked Solutions is a trademark of Presidio, Inc. Other trade names used in this document are acknowledged to be the properties of their respective owners.
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