Orro, a network and digital infrastructure provider, has completed an 18-month long project with Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) to deliver a new high-speed network for the region’s Catholic schools.
Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE), part of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, covers a geographical area spanning metropolitan Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Ipswich and the Lockyer and Brisbane valleys, the South Burnett district and the Fraser Coast.
146 Catholic schools and offices across the Archdiocese will benefit from the project, which has now future-proofed BCE’s network for years to come.
The network upgrade will also provide access to education services for more than 76,000 students and 12,500 staff, managed by Orro over the next five years, and enable BCE to invest in education programs critical to engaging staff and students across the state.
Technology is playing an increasingly critical role in the Prep to 12 education sector and has transformed the way teachers engage with their students. As the reliance on digital tools and resources increases, access to fast, stable and secure connectivity has become an essential requirement to deliver high quality educational outcomes.
The solution from Orro incorporates the establishment of dual NBN fibre services (Enterprise Ethernet and FTTP), increasing the resiliency of the network.
The upgraded network also incorporates advanced cyber security solutions from Fortinet, delivering granular content filtering and edge network security requirements.
Schools will see connection speeds increase by more than 400 per cent, equating to approximately 1.7 Mbps per student, significantly improving the quality of digital learning services and providing more flexibility in the network.
BCE’s Head of Information Technology Leigh Williams said the project had put BCE in front:
“We are now in the top tier nationally when it comes to available bandwidth per student,” said Ms Williams.
Most schools doubled their bandwidth immediately when switched over to the new SD-WAN, and several others quadrupled their available bandwidth. The network architecture connecting our schools together and to the wider world were transformed, and three decisions combined contributed to this.
One of these decisions was the installation of both NBN Enterprise Ethernet and FttP connections, and the second was SD-WAN technology to aggregate higher and lower grade NBN links and direct internet connectivity. Finally, Fortinet was able to meet the complex content filtering requirements of education which meant this could be moved to the edge.”
David Cox, Director of Business Development at Orro commented on the success of the project:
“At Orro, one of our guiding principles focuses on providing equitable access to education, which was one of the many reasons we are so pleased to have delivered this project for BCE,” said Mr Cox.
The upgraded network has now future-proofed BCE’s schools and will ensure students and staff can access online learning tools efficiently, while collaborating and communicating effectively, regardless of their location.
The program was rolled out concurrently with the network transformation we delivered for Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA). It not only demonstrates our capability to deliver complex IT projects on time and on budget, but that education in a post-pandemic world is no longer dependent on geography.”
Orro deployed the network over an 18-month period, replacing an existing MPLS WAN solution. Furthermore, Orro will assume responsibility for the ongoing management of the network.
