For example, it led to a significant drop in the number of help tickets Janesville’s IT department has to deal with and a corresponding boost in users’ ratings of the district’s service, Systems Administrator Cassandra Anderson says.
These days, users routinely rate Janesville’s IT team 4.9 stars out of 5.
Freedom from day-to-day server management has also allowed Janesville’s IT staff to focus on more business-critical and creative projects — from deploying hundreds of new tablets and digital media players in classrooms to installing a new Cisco phone system and experimenting with virtual reality headsets to more directly engage students in learning.
For Smiley, adopting hyperconverged infrastructure has translated to fewer headaches and a renewed focus on the district’s educational mission.
“It has really allowed us to move the conversation forward about how to use technology to better educate our kids, because we no longer have to have these discussions about everything else,” he says.
MORE FROM EDTECH: Check out how hyperconvergence has become a mainstream solution for K–12 schools.
Boost the Speed and Efficiency of Administrative and Academic Tasks
HCI has had a similar impact at Avon Grove School District, which enrolls more than 5,000 at four schools in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Like Janesville, Avon Grove’s 12-member IT staff juggle multiple responsibilities. Cost savings and ease of management were top priorities for upgrading the data center infrastructure, says Gary Mattei, who until this fall was Avon Grove’s technology director.
“At the time we were doing the deployment,” Mattei says. “I was focused on saving money and saving time, both of which are in short supply for most school districts.”
In March 2018, the district replaced its aging hardware and server management software with Nutanix Enterprise Cloud. But unlike Janesville, Avon Grove had its eye on hyperconverged technology from the start.
“It was always part of our plan to upgrade our network infrastructure,” Mattei says. “We wanted something that would last five to seven years, cost less and require fewer resources to manage.”