A new cache was installed last week. This will eventually replace the current Squid and AV caches that are currently deployed. The new cache is in service and is serving content filtered and AV'ed web pages to users. Please see our graphing page which shows the new server in use.
Staffing at Broadband Sandwell
We welcome Tracey Rogers who has been recruited as our new Business Manager. Tracey was previously in the Communications Unit at CYPS and replaces Avia Howe who left for new pastures earlier in the year. Welcome, Tracey.
New Janet Gigabit connection in place
Work has been completed to upgrade the broadband WAN's internet link from the previous 100Mbit/s to a new 1Gbit/s service. The following graph shows the bandwidth of the new link in use.
There is one more upgrade planned, of the caching servers. This will take place later in the term, probably during the half term break, and should complete the current round of upgrades.
Team changes
Bob Brown left our team in early August. Bob had worked at Broadband Sandwell for many years supporting special needs and more recently the production of multimedia resources. Bob is planning a new life in Cyprus. Best wishes for the future, Bob.
BSF and Future Learning Technologies
Mark Peate (Sandwell's BSF ICT lead officer and previously Head of Broadband Sandwell) publishes a web-log of educational ICT developments. Follow them here.
Swine Flu and other hazards
All organisations need to make contingency to enable business to continue in the event of unusual circumstances. Please click here to view our continuity planning policies.
Children and Young Peoples Service Inspirational Achievement Awards 2009
Congratulations to Sue Courtney-Donovan and the Computers for Pupils team on their success at these awards last night (25/03/2009). Sue, together with her team of Jane Noke, Linzi Pepper and Dan Belcher have worked hard to bridge the digital divide by administering the government funded CfP scheme which has led to the delivery of nearly 500 laptop systems to the homes of year 7 Sandwell students over the last year. This was recognised at the Inspirational Achievements Awards last night, where the team won the "greatest achievement in the development of the community of
service users" category.
Well done Sue, Jane, Linzi and Dan. Broadband Sandwell is proud to have been associated with this exciting project.
Building Schools for the Future (13/3/2009)
Click here to see the Sandwell Bidder announcement
Staff Achievements
Congratualtions to Marie Allsopp, who recently achieved NVQ Level 3 in Business and Administration (or Bizniss and Hadministration for yow black country folk). Well done Marie.
Network Upgrade (4/3/2009)
Readers may recall previous mention of impending upgrades to the broadband network to improve bandwidth and capacity to schools. This upgrade requires an "end-to-end" strategy, it is not possible to upgrade one part but leave the rest alone, the network (and ultimately schools access to Internet based resources) is provided along a chain of links and devices between the user and the resource that the user needs. Schools generally have a 10Mbit/s connection to the network core, and so "should" be able to access resources in the core at that data rate (note that this will be proportionally divided by the number of users at the school requiring use of the link at the same time, hence local caching is recommended to manage this requirement). Inside the network core is the data centre, here there are a number of services that are provided on 100Mbit/s links which are in the process of being upgraded to 1Gbit/s to ensure that these do not cause bottlenecks. Our Squid proxy servers and IWSS AV servers will also need to be further upgraded by the addition of extra units (you may recall that those currently deployed were upgraded in October). Upstream of these, the internet feed that we use is rated at 100Mbit/s, we are negotiating with Transform Sandwell for this to be upgraded further, and hope to procure a 1Gbit/s service which will give us headroom for some time to come. This upgrade itself will require other changes, Broadband Sandwell was advised yesterday (3/3/2009) that we had been successful in obtaining a range of "provider independent IPv4 IP space" from RIPE (new IP addresses) to use when we move to this space. We were very pleased to have been successful here, as this secures one aspect of the upgrade that may have caused problems had we been unsuccessful (technical readers will be aware that IPv4 space is becoming harder to obtain). Other parts of the upgrade are planned, some over the Easter break, please be assured that these will either be "non-service affecting", or will take place out of hours, or will be notified on this page if any disruption is expected.
Supporting Schools at times of Inclement weather (5/1/2009)
A number of schools have closed during the week because of weather warnings and other difficulties. As I write, Broadband Sandwell staff are working at their desks, supporting schools (both open and closed) to carry out their business. Although it has been a quiet week, it has been business as usual, and staff have used this opportunity to monitor, upgrade, carry out research, develop new systems and repair old ones where needed.
Broadband Sandwell follow advice given by Local authority regarding office closure, at such times arrangements are made for staff to work remotely from the office, and a message on our telephone system gives details of our out-of-office telephone number to report faults.
It is the nature of our work that much of it can be carried out remotely. Schools should be assured of our commitment to their needs, particularly at times of difficulty. Our emergency contact number, should you call and find our offices unmanned, can be found on our "Contact Us" page.
Data Security
This is becoming a more and more important issue and is subject to advice from Becta (follow this link). The security of your school's data should be considered paramount, especially when it is stored on portable media, including laptops, CDs, DVDs and Flash memory devices. As well as the highly publicised losses suffered by HMG in the recent past, this is also affecting local authorities, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/09/leeds_council_data_loss/
It is possible that staff occasionally take sensitive data off site without appreciating the risk, whether they are working at home entering assessment marks into a database or taking a list of students when they go on a school trip. The opportunities for accidental loss in these circumstances are greatly increased. From the school management point of view, this data may also end up on staff computer systems at home, over which the school have no control, and which may eventually pass into other hands with the data still intact.
Current advice is that no data should be taken off site on unencrypted media. This will also include the transmission of data by email, users should alternatively use secure means (such as webxchange, B2B or the SMIS www.sandwellschools.org.uk service) for external transfers. Broadband Sandwell can supply encrypted flash memory devices, it may also be possible to encrypt others with the use of third party software tools, please follow this link. If you are not sure how to secure your data, please contact us before you transfer it off-site.
Staffing at Broadband Sandwell
A member of our Content team retired recently, we wish Chris Howles the best for the future.
Consequently, we have advertised and recruited a new Content and Curriculum Adviser on a part-time basis; we welcome Chris Howles who will join us for two days a week. Please contact Chris for your ICT curriculum and content needs.
Find out more about e-safety. Click the graphic to follow the link.
Image Libraries
You may have read the previous item about Pathé online content and have been disappointed that WMNet, our regional broadband consortium, were unable to secure an extension to the previous subscription.
Instead, they have subscribed until July 2009 with Hulton Getty
Education Image Gallery (HG EIG) on a 1 year subscription. WMNet advise that they will be re-negotiating to extend the subscription, but if they are unsuccessful, schools could choose to subscribe individually at that time and that schools would also be permitted to continue to use any HG EIG graphics that they may have embedded into content (e.g. Powerpoint presentations).
Schools have free access to the HG EIG from the schools' broadband network, follow the link below and click through the login window, it will recognise that you have free access. Externally (e.g. at home) a license will be required, this is not covered by the WMNet contract.
For the past three years, WMNet have purchased a subscription from Pathé to allow all schools in the West Midlands to access high quality images from the Pathé website. Unfortunately, this
subscription
is coming to an end and Pathé quoted a renewal price that WMNet considers to be too high, and so they advise us that they will not be renewing the subscription.
The unfortunate consequence of this is that any images that schools may have downloaded will no longer be licensed, and so any continued use may be regarded by Pathé as infringement of copyright. Schools are therefore advised to remove any Pathé images (including any that may have been embedded into worksheets or powerpoint documents) before the end of 2008. There are lower quality images of Pathe content that are available without subscription that schools could use as replacements for the unlicensed images.
Becta, the government's education technology agency, has recently made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for alleged anti-competitive practices by Microsoft in the schools software marketplace and in relation to Microsoft's approach to document interoperability.
Becta guidance on biometric technologies in schools
Guidance has now been issued by Becta on the use of biometric technologies in schools. Concerns have recently been highlighted by local newspaper articles. Advice is offered on the advantages of these systems, data protection matters, consultation with pupils and parents and general reassurance on the nature of this technology.
A recent television programme highlighted some potential risks in the use of wireless networks and interactive whiteboards in schools. Click here for our advice.
The Click2Meet Express Web Video conferencing system has been upgraded to Click2Meet version 4 with many improved features. Details of training to follow. - click here!
For assistance in setting up Video conferencing systems and making use of the UKERNA Video Conferencing service - click here!
