Colégio Júlio Dinis, a private educational institution in Porto, has been an ActiveSys customer since 2020.
For the 2023/2024 school year, the school started the year with some big news: a new campus, much larger than the facilities they previously occupied, and a partnership with an international education group.
As a way of publicising one of our major projects for 2023, we now share this case study which, as you can see, despite the challenges presented throughout the process, has been a great success.
Colégio Júlio Dinis
The Challenge
In the 2022/2023 school year, the school was located between Rua Silva Tapada and Rua Costa Cabral in Porto, in a set of much smaller buildings compared to the current dimensions.
With this change of premises came the need to renovate the entire IT infrastructure, mainly because these were old buildings.
"As it´s an old building, it would be necessary, according to what was assumed, to revise and remodelling a series of infrastructures that existed in the past."
In addition, one of the major concerns of the school’s IT manager was also security issues, not only in terms of personal data, but also sensitive information accessed by students.
"Security was fundamental for us. That´s why it was extraordinarily important to have a robust solution."
So, after contacting the school’s headmaster, Marco Carvalho, ActiveSys was challenged to develop a technological innovation project for the new campus.
Adversities
Like any large project, it had its difficulties, one of which was sizing, due to the size of the new campus and also because there was no final construction project. That said, ActiveSys was open to adapting the project to the client’s needs during the course of the work.
"The project grew over time, because the final plans had not yet been drawn at all. And it was a continuous joint effort that lasted some time before we reached the final solution."
Another obstacle was the timing of the project’s completion, as the College was due to be finished by mid-October 2023.
In partnership, a complete solution was designed, which covered all of ActiveSys’ offering areas, as it was a complete project that involved a total restructuring of the IT infrastructure.
"It was an A to Z solution, a solution that involved everything from the construction of the Data Center to the passive cabling component, the systmes area, networking, Wi-fi and security."
The Solution
"Receiving the proposal from ActiveSys was an initial feeling of peace of mind."
After surveying the needs on site, together with all the stakeholders from both the school and ActiveSys, a final plan was drawn up.
The client’s main objective was an integrated solution, designed for the future, which from a technological point of view was innovative and at the cutting edge. And, according to the school’s headmaster, Marco Carvalho, “this need was clearly met.”
On ActiveSys’ side, it was necessary to look for a solution suitable for teaching and a manufacturer that would help throughout the process, especially in terms of meeting the stipulated timings.
"We had to look for a solution that suited teaching, a manufacturer that gave us guarantees of quality, delivery times and also suited our profile."
For the networking area, we chose our partner Aruba, which we have every confidence in, given the number of projects we have partnered on. As for systems, we had the help of our manufacturer Lenovo, with a very innovative solution that is very suitable for teaching.
Watch the full video of the first part of the Colégio Júlio Dinis Case Study here.
Part 2, coming soon.