The release of innovative multimedia tools and interactive educational applications has changed the classroom learning experience forever. Primary and secondary school students no longer simply sit at their desks and listen to lesson plans until last bell. Instead, they often spend a fair percentage of their day taking advantage of online resources.  

Whether it's watching online educational videos, taking part in interactive games or just using the Internet for research, students have become increasingly reliant on having consistent Web access.

Unfortunately, cutting-edge schools that embrace online learning applications, multimedia experiences and interactive sessions often find themselves struggling with the speed of their networks. Today's educational applications demand an "enterprise-class" network to deliver secure, reliable content. For institutions with moderate budgets, upgrading to a network that is capable of handling the jump in bandwidth can be difficult.

A new edition to TMC's (News - Alert) white paper library titled, "Schools Graduate to Enterprise Class Wi-Fi," delves deeply into the issues that primary and secondary schools often face after realizing that they need a high-speed wireless network to move into the next generation of teaching. The white paper was crafted by Aerohive Networks, creator of the award-winning cooperative control wireless LAN (WLAN) architecture.

The research paper speaks to recent advances in the WLAN space, government subsidy programs that can lower costs for schools as well as certain pitfalls that school administrators should be aware of when considering a solution.

"For example, some suppliers’ networks require costly WLAN controllers while others don’t," reads the white paper. "Because controllers are the costliest component of the network, this setup can quickly increase the cost of the overall solution, particularly when redundant controllers are deployed at multiple locations."

The white paper also exposes unknown hazards like licensing fees, temporary connectivity requirements and mesh support.

In contrast, other solutions, such as those offered by Aerohive (News - Alert), can handle all the network functions without the need for costly WLAN controllers and other add-ons. The pricing and scalability of Aerohive solutions can be easily calculated through the company's free online Wi-Fi Planning Tool.

"You simply multiply the number of APs you need by the per-AP price, then add the cost of the management for that number of APs," says Aerohive. "There are no feature licenses or redundant components to worry about – and thus, no surprises."

For more information about Aerohive’s solutions, click here.

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Stefanie Mosca