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Carpe Diem—
America's Most Wired School "Seizes the Day" with Paragon
What do Hollywood director Oliver Stone, former
Secretary of State James Baker III, Time Inc. editor in chief
Norman Pearlstine, and JP Morgan/Chase chairman of the
board Douglas A. Warner all have in common? They are
all alumni of The Hill School, a 150 year-old private school
in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Original Andrew Wyeth
paintings grace the walls of the school's dining room. And,
most recently, original photos of Abraham Lincoln, taken
by his photographer Matthew Brady three days before his
assassination, were discovered in the school's archives.
Who would have guessed that a school so rich in history
would also be named the most wired school in America by
E-School News Magazine? Rick Bauer, who heads The
Hill School Information Services Department and doubles
as CIO and teacher of theology, encountered some initial
resistance to his vision of integrating computers into the
learning process. "When I joined four years ago, we were
doing missionary work to gain approval from the school to
purchase more technology tools. Now, we are at the point
of 'I need more server space' and 'I need more computers
and software apps.' And, these requests are now being
driven by end users and faculty," said Bauer. Each Hill
School student is equipped with a laptop. Bauer even
teaches networking courses to students so they can serve as
front end technical support should their fellow students
have problems in the dorms with their laptops.
In the midst of this "technology revolution", The Hill School
was experiencing growing pains in its data center with more
servers, limited space and minimal IT staff. In fact, like
Bauer, most of his IT staff split their time teaching. "We take
pride in what we do at Hill and wanted a functional, yet
aesthetically appealing data center without wires poking out
and equipment lying around," said Bauer. "We depend on
our 40 servers to manage the 100 courses we offer online, to
ensure that each student receives a network and email
account, to process e-commerce transactions using an ERP
SQL database, and to run an e-learning Web site." Finally,
with his stretched staff, Bauer needed a powerful KVM
solution that was easy to set up and administer.
When Bauer arrived in 1998, The Hill School was using
Raritan coaxial-based KVM switches in the data center.
However, as Bauer expanded the data center with more
extensive server racks, snaking the heavy cable through
ceilings became a bit unwieldy. Bauer looked at other
manufacturers but did not see any that could equal
Raritan's commitment to improvement. "Raritan is not
content with the status quo and continually enhances its
solutions. I like rewarding that type of company,
especially with tech dollars so dear."
When Bauer received his award winning Paragon® with
Cat5 SimplicityTM, he was amazed that he was able to
configure the entire system in 20 minutes. "Paragon
worked as advertised and very few network devices can
claim that," said Bauer. He also loves the flexibility of
using Paragon for multiple users who need to access
servers simultaneously. "We can have one administrator
inputting account information for a student while
another is running diagnostics," he said.
The Hill School has been using Paragon since 2001 and
has had problem-free administration. "We received great
training on the product and have only made inquiries on
taking advantage of its functionality," Bauer said. In terms
of cost savings, Bauer has saved thousands of dollars that
he would have spent on the purchase, replacement and
energy consumption of at least 40 monitors. "Paragon
also minimized the need for extra staff, so members of the
department could use their time more effectively," he
added. "Paragon is a testament to the reliability and
scalability of a KVM solution. What impressed me most
was the ability to deploy a technology that can be
expanded in the future without tearing down the current
infrastructure."
The next big technology undertaking for Bauer is The
Hill School Open School Project. "We want to give back
to the education community and share our advanced
placement (AP) curriculum materials with schools around
the country, especially in underprivileged school districts."
Under this program, The Hill School is open sourcing its
AP e-learning content. "Paragon will play an important
role in this program to ensure our servers and network
devices can handle the workload," said Bauer. "For us, it's
not about technology but really about the kids and
teachers spending time everyday with the future."
In the future, Bauer is excited about the prospect of
accessing his servers and network devices remotely, to
make it even easier for his IT staff to access the KVM
switches. "As my needs grow, I know that I can call
Raritan and I will not be in a technological cul-de-sac,"
he concluded.
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The Hill School
With an IT staff stretched to the limit, the
most wired school in America needed a KVM
solution that was powerful enough to provide
access to their growing number of servers, yet
easy to set up and administer.
Raritan's Paragon KVM switch
The Hill School has saved thousands of dollars
that would have been spent on monitors and
additional staff.
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