The NSW Government is to open an ICT Learning Centre at Wyong High School to service the whole Central Coast community. IBM won the $500,000 contract in a head to head with HP and claims it is the first of its kind in the state.
The centre, which will open later this month in a purpose-built building, will consist of three classrooms (two for PCs and one for notebooks), a server room and an administration office. The network will feature 43 IBM NetVista desktops, 20 ThinkPad notebooks for students with a further 55 for teachers, 13 projectors, two servers and four Cisco wireless access points.
“The sponsorship offering in conjunction with Cisco was a key differentiator for us,” said David Nicol, IBM’s business development manager for NSW Government. “The wireless network gives added flexibility to the teachers by freeing notebooks from the technology centre.”
Volante Systems will be responsible for implementation services including the installation of the wireless local area network (WLAN) and the rolling out of PCs pre-loaded with images.
Support will be provided by a full-time co-ordinator who will receive on-going IBM training in new technologies. Teachers will have access to a range of 60 courses ranging from basic IT skills to advanced Microsoft and Cisco certification.
Other schools, colleges, businesses and adult learning groups will be able to use the centre by appointment through the school principal.
