18 May 2018 First wireless link in Boston Work on the new The Boston Witham Academies Federation (BWAF) wireless network has begun. This will be the first wireless link we have in Boston. Our Mission This project aims to join as many of the BWAF academy schools together with wireless links. This is to minimise the use of external ISPs and maximize efficiency when dealing with network faults. This first link, from the Haven High academy campus to Park Academy primary school, is a proof of concept link for testing before the rest of the project is given the green light. This makes use of wireless technology. Which means the schools link has been upgraded in a matter of hours from a single 10Mbps link, to a link with a capacity of 655mbps. As a result this will allow for servers in the school to be removed and managed at our central DC via a lease line to haven high. These works move towards the vision of a single unified network for the BWAF. Allowing for pooled resources and central spending keeping costs down whilst maximising network access and speed. Watch this space, and follow our progress!
17 May 2018 Fairfield Primary Gate System Blog Advanced, Fairfield, gate, It, motorised, primary, school, Services, Support, system Joe Walcehster Last month we were approached to motorize Fairfield Primary Gate System, one of the schools on our support contract. The Fairfield Primary Gate System would need to work both independently and as a pair depending on the command given. This was a unique issue for a school as each school usually have separate pedestrian and Vehicle gates but Fairfields use the same set. Unique Gate Access Solution The system designed was a Paxton Net 2 and BFT combination. The BFT gate controller. The use of Paxton Net 2 allowed the school to join the George spencer Central access control server allowing full roaming of staff across all trust schools. To allow multiple access options we used Paxton net 2 entry panels mounted on custom made mounts, these panels allow multiple token types to be used as well as the use of the built in keypad for pin numbers and the use of SIP protocol to link to the schools existing VoIP network. The BFT gate controller has been configured to fire different commands depending on the relay triggered by Paxton, this allows the use of one or both gates either separately or individually. The gates have been fitted with break beam photocells and crush bars to eliminate any possible entrapment areas that could cause any harm or damage to pedestrians or vehicles. The Camera System that was put into place. Centralized CCTV System As well as the installation of gates, a camera system was installed to allow office staff to monitor access via the gate and give them a visual before allowing or denying access to the site.
16 May 2018 AIT’s New Offsite Backup Facility Blog Advanced, AIT, Backup, facility, It, offsite, Services, Support admin April sees the commissioning of AIT’s New Offsite Backup Facility. Installation One of our technicians at work, during the installation. The facility in question was in a previous life a O2 telecoms site, after the handover from O2 to AIT in November works have been underway to install two 1Gbps capacity wireless links to our Main DC at George Spencer. Each link is a Ubiquiti link using both the 24Ghz and 5Ghz band to give full redundancy and reliability. Testing After installing the first backup server in March (a 200tb storage array made up of 10tb drives), testing on the link capacity as well as the servers and writing capacity have now been complete and starting to hold live backup data of our servers. Future The next set of backup servers will be installed later this year after they have been decommissioned from our old facility and rebuilt with new 10tb drives. This facility has a dedicated power supply and UPS on site as well as full air-conditioning and alarm systems all sealed behind a half tone door with a custom manufactured lock for extra protection. Give’s a good morning view for our technicians.
8 Sep 2017 Our Work Over The Summer Blog Ryan Jones The summer holidays are always a busy time for us here at Advanced IT Services. We use the time when teachers are out of the building to complete major summer IT jobs and upgrades to systems. This summer was one of our busiest ever! Read on to find out about some of the jobs we completed during the 6 week holiday. Complete Kit Renewal – BWAF Carlton Road School Over the summer, we completed a full kit renewal at BWAF Carlton Road School. This involved a full switch and Wi-Fi replacement, along with the installation of new PCs, over 250 laptops and over 130 iPads! All of this work has been done to improve the overall speed of the network, as well as improve the experience the end users have when using the new systems. We look forward to hearing from BWAF about how their kit renewal is going for them in the new term! Full Kit-Out – SMSJ Upper School (London) We were contacted by SMSJ Upper School before the summer break about completing a full kit-out of their site. After the initial contact, we visited the school shortly after to discuss the work they needed. Here is a breakdown of the work Advanced IT Services completed over the summer. Installed 28 70″ ViewSonic touch screens. Installed a switch and Wi-Fi network. Installed P to P links to the middle school to allow the new upper school to utilise the original onsite servers to create a serverless environment at the new school. Removal of Kit from a Manchester-Based Data Centre We removed one of our new customer’s servers from their current provider in Manchester. All 13 servers have now been installed in our in-house data centre and will now be reconfigured to create a cloud environment for this customer. The customer has moved to us for a fully monitored solution. With their previous provider, they only rented the physical space. Due to this, dead disks or power supplies went almost unnoticed! Replacement of Smart Boards and Projectors with New Touch Screens This summer, we also replaced 7 projectors and smart boards with new 65″ BenQ point touch screens. This is part of a rolling replacement schedule for a primary school we support. Furthermore, all of the above projects have been completed alongside our normal site support and summer maintenance jobs! Some these jobs include: Imaging PCs around our schools. Replacing machines. Servicing gates, doors and CCTV. Assisting in moving projects at our various schools. For more information about the jobs we completed over the summer, or to find out about the possibility of Advanced IT Services working for you, contact us today!
14 Aug 2017 IT Support Services in Nottingham Blog Ryan Jones IT support is one of the main services we offer to our clients at Advanced IT Services. The tasks we can handle range from simple “how do I?” requests, all the way to third-line support for complex IT issues. However, we are not only experts in providing high-quality IT support services to clients in the education sector, we are also industry experts in IT support for the private sector! To find out more about how we can help your company with your IT services, take a look around our website and get in touch.
19 May 2017 Apple Devices in Education Blog Natalie Middleton iPads have become a valuable learning tool in the Classroom environment, opening up fantastic new methods and opportunities for learning. With AIT’s new management system, it has never been easier to deploy, manage and teach using iPad. Have a watch of our latest video below to see how we can benefit you… Click here for more information!
24 Mar 2017 De-commissioning Washington Blog Natalie Middleton Today we say farewell to our oldest Domain Controller, Washington. The server was our original Domain Controller and the last device running Windows Server 2003 in our infrastructure. With its removal from the cluster we can now raise our forest functional level, adding extra features to the Domain.
15 Mar 2017 Building Our Data Centre Blog Ryan Jones 6 years ago today, our director visited 2BM to talk about the possibility of them quoting for and building our own specialised data centre, so we can better support our clients across the Spencer Academies Trust. 6 years on and we are working with a range of Primary & Secondary schools across the East Midlands region, providing centralised connectivity in our very own data centre. For more information about how our data centre can help us support you or for a tour of the facility, get in touch with us today.
25 Feb 2017 Advanced IT Services: Our Vision Blog Natalie Middleton Have a watch of our latest video to find out more about our future plans. Advanced IT Services are a specialist IT support company based in Nottingham. We are dedicated to the Education and Public sector markets and work to create a centralised service network to offer all aspects of support, using a unique IT delivery model.
22 Feb 2017 February Half Term Blog Natalie Middleton Half Term was once again upon us, giving us some time to implement our bigger projects. Here’s a quick list of what we were up to:
