UK college embraces BYOD Customer profile and cuts IT spend Milton Keynes College takes advantage of the consumerisation of IT to Company Milton Keynes enhance student learning and saves £700,000 (US$1.1 million) over three College (MKC) years through improved virtualization Industry Higher Education Country United Kingdom Employees 1,000+ staff; 20,000 students Website mkcollege.ac.uk Business need Milton Keynes College wanted to give students, teachers and staff better support through more flexible IT policies such as bring-your- own-device (BYOD), and needed to overhaul its IT. Solution The college deployed Windows Server® 2012 and Hyper-V™ with the Server Message Block (SMB) feature on Dell PowerEdge blade servers, Dell EqualLogic storage and Dell Networking switches. Benefits • Students gain better data access for enhanced learning • Students engage more deeply with study using tablet devices • MKC saves nearly £210,000 (US$338,000) on IT power usage • Institution expects overall savings of more than £700,000 • Administrators focus on improving “ MKC can look to focus resources in other services rather than fixing problems areas as a result of the £700,000-plus saving Solutions featured we’re making over the next three years with • Data Center Virtualization • Networking our Dell solution.” • Mobile Computing • Connected Classroom Dr. Daniel Hidlebaugh, Director of Information and Learning Technology • Backup and Recovery (ILT), Milton Keynes College • Deployment Services • Support Services • Financial Services Milton Keynes College (MKC) is one of the fastest-growing further education (FE) colleges in the UK, with a turnover that’s increased from £15 million (US$24 million) to £60 million (US$96 million) in the 10 years to 2012. The college plays a key role in the regional economy – many of its students go on to work in local business sectors such as banking, finance and professional services. College courses take place across finding the support he required. three campuses, and MKC is also “I spoke to Dell Partner Circle IT, which “ Our BYOD strategy responsible for providing courses in a we see as a trusted adviser,” he says. number of local prisons. “We built a strong business case for a is moving forward new solution, complete with projected thanks to the Dell The world of FE colleges is changing savings.” Dr. Hidlebaugh’s vision was quickly. The consumerisation of a virtualized infrastructure running infrastructure that technology, particularly mobile devices, has prompted a demand for greater we have in place. access to data. Students want to Technology at work It has given us use their tablet devices or laptops in lecture halls and laboratories, and get Services access to coursework from their home the IT to handle Dell Deployment Services PCs. The development has been a the thousands of springboard for new strategies such as Dell Financial Services requests that we bring-your-own-device (BYOD), and Dell Support Services a way to boost academic standards as − Dell ProSupport receive from student well as reduce costs. Hardware devices to connect To take advantage of these Dell PowerEdge M620 blade to our network.” opportunities, MKC needed to replace servers with Intel® Xeon® its IT infrastructure, which was coming processors to the end of its lifecycle and soon to Dr. Daniel Hidlebaugh, Director be out of warranty. In addition, energy Dell PowerEdge M1000e of Information and Learning modular blade enclosure Technology (ILT), Milton Keynes efficiency and backup processes were College poor. Plus, study programmes were Dell EqualLogic PS4110X regularly interrupted by servers failing storage arrays and services going offline. Dr. Daniel Dell Networking MXL 10 Gigabit Hidlebaugh, Director of Information Ethernet switches and Learning Technology (ILT) at Milton Keynes College (MKC), says: “We had Dell Networking 5548 switches a lot of work to do. I didn’t want to Dell Networking 8100 switches simply replace what we had. I wanted Dell Networking Z9000 core to develop an advanced infrastructure switches that would provide other colleges with a template to follow in our rapidly Dell XPS 10 tablets changing sector.” Software College finds IT partners to give Windows Server® 2012 “lighthouse” project total support − Hyper-V™ Dr. Hidlebaugh was clear regarding which companies he wanted to work with on the project, and lost no time 2 Windows Server® 2012 and Hyper-V™. Students gain more freedom reliability of IT systems because of In particular, he wanted to incorporate and more engaging learning the virtualized environment. Class the Microsoft Server Message Block environments disruption due to server failures is (SMB) protocol and InfiniBand MKC is now in a great position to drive now a thing of the past, while better technology to help ensure high speed its BYOD policy and give students connectivity will allow students to and easy management. It would be the access they want to the college be more productive. And the number one of the first Hyper-V clusters network. Everything is there for of IT help-desk calls at all campuses running on SMB, but, with both Dell students to use their own devices for has dropped dramatically. “Before and Microsoft supporting the project, accessing the network from any part this project started, we had hundreds Dr. Hidlebaugh gained peace of mind. of the three campuses. Indeed, MKC of help-desk calls that were open. “Everyone signed up to the project has recently completed a project to But because our IT is reliable and really quickly,” he says. “Dell, Microsoft enable wireless connectivity across the has redundancy built in, that number and Circle IT were all committed to campuses. To support the IT backbone has fallen to a couple of dozen, making this ‘lighthouse’ project a and improve network performance, and we normally get these cleared success. It was also made possible by connectivity and resilience, 23 Dell within a single working day,” says Dell Financial Services. We’ve worked Networking 5548 switches, six 8100 Dr. Hidlebaugh. He knows that the with the service for a number of switches and two Z9000 core switches infrastructure is performing well years and have a good relationship. It will be installed. Dr. Hidlebaugh says: because IT is no longer a conversation understands the financial pressures “Our BYOD strategy is moving forward across the campus. “When things on colleges, and is proactive in finding thanks to the Dell infrastructure that are quiet, you know that your IT is solutions to help get the most out of a we have in place. It has given us the performing well. IT isn’t a constant tight budget.” IT to handle the thousands of requests topic for discussion here because our that we receive from student devices Dell virtualized solution is working as it Deployment stays on track thanks to to connect to our network.” should,” he says. multi-party collaboration The college successfully deployed As a result of the infrastructure, MKC College saves nearly £210,000 on IT the virtualized infrastructure working has already started rolling out Dell power usage over three years closely with the three companies. XPS 10 tablets across the campuses. MKC has significantly lowered the Circle IT managed the implementation The initiative has been a success, carbon footprint of its IT infrastructure and Dell worked with Microsoft to highlighting the power of internet- by installing the Dell solution. By help ensure the SMB configuration enabled tablets to boost learning and increasing the density of the delivered maximum performance on engagement. Dr. Hidlebaugh says: “We infrastructure, and consolidating five the Dell platform. At the heart of the saw an improvement in grades and a racks of IT servers and storage, power infrastructure are five 12th-generation greater level of student participation consumption has been significantly Dell PowerEdge M620 blade servers in classes after introducing the Dell reduced. “MKC should save nearly with Intel® Xeon® processors sitting in tablets.” MKC closely studied the £210,000 on power and cooling a Dell PowerEdge M1000e modular effects of the devices, canvassing over the coming three years with blade enclosure, and connected to students each day during a proof of its Dell solution. This highlights the Dell EqualLogic PS4110X storage concept for their opinions on what effectiveness of the Dell solution’s arrays. Dell Networking MXL 10 Gigabit worked well. “We wanted to know design and particularly the power Ethernet (GbE) switches connect the everything – both good and bad – so efficiency of the Intel processors in infrastructure to the network. “I had no we could get a deep understanding of our servers,” says Dr. Hidlebaugh. concerns when we started this project how tablet devices changed classes,” In addition to these savings, the and my faith in Dell, Microsoft and he says. “The results have been infrastructure will deliver better services Circle IT was rewarded because we overwhelmingly positive and the data is than the previous server and storage had no problems during deployment. going into a report for other academic solution. Right now, it supports both I was free to concentrate on other institutions to assess.” administrative and educational systems, things secure in the knowledge that our and is about to start running Microsoft® Windows Server 2012 SMB installation IT performs efficiently, allowing users Lync™, so users can collaborate and was in safe hands,” says Dr. Hidlebaugh. to get on with their work communicate more effectively. Students and teachers have seen a significant improvement in the 3 Institution expects overall savings College maximises IT performance of more than £700,000 with responsive support The college will make substantial MKC is maintaining the performance savings from the switch to the Dell of its IT investment with the platform. When Dr. Hidlebaugh and combined support of Circle IT and Circle IT put together the business Dell ProSupport.