Photo provided by University of Lancashire
Tracing its history back to 1828, the University of Lancashire is coming up on its second century of delivering modern education to students across their campuses. There's been a lot of change in education technology over the last 197 years and while professors still teach their students from lecture podiums, those podiums no longer just hold paper. The podiums at the University are highly technical connectivity spaces that give students the best learning experience possible.
Ian Blinkhorn is a Technical Officer at the University of Lancashire and for 17 years has managed the procurement and deployment of end user devices. Ian jokingly describes his role as “managing any IT device that has a plug” which is quite a few devices spread across the 450 teaching rooms at the University and over 3000 staff.
Ian was recently assigned a complex deployment project aimed at standardizing how academic staff's devices connect to classroom podiums. The goal was to create a seamless, user-friendly experience while maintaining the integrity of existing network security protocols.
University of Lancashire
The Challenge: Single Cable Connectivity
The driving force behind this deployment was the need for a single cable connectivity solution. The podium's previous technology was chosen when USB-C technology was in its infancy, and this meant multiple cables were needed to ensure connectivity. Ian’s new deployment could take advantage of USB-C to offer a simplified experience for academics who themselves aren’t IT Pros and save both staff and Ian’s team from managing connectivity issues that could cost students precious teaching time.
Ian tested several USB-C docking stations as potential connectivity accessories for the podiums, but early on recognized that he would prefer to use a StarTech.com device. Ian describes StarTech as the company that “Sells the products no one else does, that solve the problems everyone has.”
“(StarTech.com) sells the products no one else does, that solve the problems everyone has.”
- Ian Blinkhorn, Technical Officer, University of Lancashire
The Solution: Taking Advantage of Connectivity Applications
With the StarTech.com docking station, Ian also found a solution to one of the biggest problems they faced in this deployment. The University needed a dock that would allow network security to identify connected devices without the dock getting in the way of this process. Adrien Wendling, a Solutions Engineer with StarTech.com, helped identify a dock that used an innovative media access control (MAC) address passthrough application developed by StarTech.com as part of their Connectivity Tools Suite to do just that. With this issue solved, Ian just needed the devices to deploy, a task that’s easier said than done with post-pandemic supply chains.
Procuring at Scale: StarTech.com and Primo IT
The University of Lancashire’s procurement is handled through approved resellers, and for this connectivity deployment, Ian worked closely with Richard Harland from Primo IT. Ian described Richard as the kind of reseller who could find anything, perfect for working with devices from the company that made products no one else had.
Primo IT has supplied education spaces with IT Assets for the past 31 years, and Richard describes their process as "ensuring everyone's voices are heard”. When Ian approached him about this connectivity upgrade, he provided the testing devices that were used and made the connection between Ian and Adrien to solve the MAC Passthrough issue.
When it came to procuring the docks, Ian knew there could be an issue as there were many docks needed for a full deployment, and they would need to be UK specific devices. This didn’t deter Richard though, he worked closely with the StarTech.com team to ensure delivery of the first order of 450 docking stations, even if it meant that StarTech.com needed to refit North American docks for UK deployment.
Conclusion: Deploying with Confidence
With their docking stations secured, Ian and his team are in the final steps for their deployment. Administration staff have replaced their docking stations with StarTech.com docks, and over the summer holidays they will be completing the overhaul of lecture podiums. Ian expects that once completed this standardization deployment will make a major difference for IT and teaching staff in simplifying and streamlining their connectivity.
If you’re looking to join Ian in building a simplified IT environment or are facing a difficult connectivity challenge and could use the support of a Solutions Engineer, don’t hesitate to reach out. StarTech.com has supported IT Pros for 40 years, and we’re always ready to share our experience.