One of the best applications for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies is in educational institutions. Imagine giving all of your students in your school or entire district the ability to access learning material with their own device. This truly is using the full potential of technology for the greater good. With this kind of application, students will always have the latest learning material at their disposal. There will not be inequality between school districts regarding learning material once everyone starts applying this platform.
The Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) should be applauded for taking this initiative and applying it not only to one chosen school, but to the entire district. With a total of 17 schools in the district, Bradford Networks will provide complete visibility and control to the more than 50,000 mobile devices for students, faculty and staff in the district. The company’s network solution will protect the school network from security threats, while making it easily accessible to authorized users.
"I believe this enterprise wireless project will be the biggest change for the classroom in the last two hundred years. Now, with the help of Bradford Networks, students will have the power of technology in their own hands which will really change the way they learn, while we will have the visibility and control to ensure a safe BYOD experience for the students, faculty and school," said Phil Scrivano, chief technology officer, LVUSD.
After the system is implemented, everyone with a mobile device will register it once every year through Bradford Networks’ web page that it has branded for the school. Every time a student has their device turned on in the networks range, the company will identify the device and the student automatically. When the device is confirmed, the student will gain access based on his or her Active Directory permission. If any device on the system is transmitting content that is not permitted or dangerous, it will identify the user and take appropriate action.
The district chose Bradford after the company was recommended by several wireless vendors. The company’s visibility, user profiling, security controls and easy automated onboarding made it the preferred Network Access Control (NAC) capable of supporting 50,000 devices accessing the districts network.
Bradford uses the expertise of other companies to provide the complete package for LVUSD. It includes cabling from Advanced Communications, content filtering and reporting from Nomadix, integration and project management from Accuvant and wireless network from Aerohive.
"LVUSD is a visionary school district that recognized the need for a wireless classroom to advance education and engage its current and its future K-12 students. With up to 50,000 devices accessing the school's network, each bringing with it its own unique configuration and level of security risk, we are proud that we were chosen to protect the District's network in its evolution toward BYOD," said Tom Murphy, CMO, Bradford Networks.
As the chief technology officer for the district said, this is a true revolution in the way children will be educated. The hope is for all school districts around the country to see this model as the one to follow to ensure kids are not left behind in a global learning field that is not looking back and taking no prisoners.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman 
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