Parent Laptop Committee 2015 What you can expect

Parent Laptop Committee 2015 What you can expect to hear about and be involved in with this year’s selection of laptops for the grade 8 Student.

Who Am I ? Wolf Laudien Gr 9 parent History Nut Make Industrial Knives

Network Setup • Many servers housed and managed at Bishops – Microsoft Active Directory system for security, access and authentication – Microsoft Exchange systems for Mail – Microsoft SQL for massive amounts of Dbases – Microsoft Web servers for the frontends of the student, the teacher and the parent networks • Network of hardwired and Wifi access points – 1 Gb per class room with segmented automatic handover – 200 Mbps uplink to the Internet with 23 Mbps of International traffic – Large range of caching servers to allow very fast access to Internet resources, including Office 365 and other cloud storage.

Network Setup. . • Printer network – Network to allow printing to your closest printer, even from home – Network attached printing via Kyocera MPDs – Print Spooling to go to your closest printer and release the job • Laptop access – Windows 8. 1 and installed and configured with the correct access software, licenses and latest patches – Extensive security suite provided by F-secure – Account authentication and access software – Vast array of Applications, including Pastal accounting, Autograph, Pace, Sim Ventures for Business, Science and Chemistry package and of course Microsoft Office Professional edition

IT Helpdesk • Dedicated team to log and deal with a large variety of calls • 35 student laptop related calls a day • 30% are hardware related and 40% Operating system related and 20% Software and the remainder on things like missing data and access. • Of the Operating system calls the bulk are due to non-supported OS’s e. g. Mac-Os & Android. • Of the Hardware, 80% are due to non-recommended Hardware • Current supported laptops have a 5 year Warrantee and next business day return together with a loan unit and a 3 drop breakage repair and warrantee managed by this helpdesk for you. Dell NBD • Onsite spares and trained , certified experienced technicians for that particular laptop of choice, Microsoft and DELL

Number crunching……. Avg 35 student calls per day 30% Hardware 40% Operating system 20% Software 10% misc. 70% Non-Windows = 10 calls per day 80% non-recommended hardware = 9 calls per day On average: 19 calls per day could be avoided by going the committee recommended route …. There is a cost for this support….

Laptop of choice 2015 • • • Windows 8. 1 Professional edition All Windows Client access licenses Microsoft Office the most “heavyweight” Knocks, bumps and daily use of energetic boys “Snappy” and quick to start working from hybernate Current technology in 4 years time Good support and warrantee from a reliable Hardware vendor Boys must want to use it, its “cool”, “hot”, “has swag” Must fit into the Bishops IT infrastructure

Committee • • • Parent committee, mostly Grade 8 Selected hardware of choice for Grade 8 2015 Laptop to fit into current support and IT infrastructure Recommend and implement changes to infrastructure if required. Present options, pricing and vendor relationship The purchase relationship is between parent and vendor Select and Setup warrantee and support for selected laptop Current relationships help a lot in reducing the workload Laptop must be in the boys’ hands by mid-August latest Mail Mrs Sally Bowes on itdirector@bishops. org. za

How can you Help? • STAND on the committee • WAIT for the purchase options to become available • SUPPORT the Committee’s selected choice • AVOID Apple, Android or Unix/Linux • AVOID Own hardware/OS/software purchases • OFFER time and advice to committee • READ and FOLLOW the letters that will be sent. • STAY INFORMED.

Apple? • • • Costly, but the “IN” thing OS MUST be Windows 8. 1, dualboot at least. No Bishops hardware or OS support Limited Warrantee, Parent problem Does not play well with Microsoft Frustrating and costly to support Issues in classroom and frustration for the boys Extra support fee to be paid. No equivalent loan unit

Own Choice Hardware • • • “Specials” are not special, technical specs Usual reinstall OS and applications Manage own hardware and driver issues Manage own warrantee Limited warrantee, never really NBD 5 years Expensive in the long rung Compatibility issues are your problem Limited loan use Upfront additional support fee Second Hand or refurbished seldom “plays nice”

But if you insist. . • Hardware is reformatted and the Bishops supplied Windows 8. 1 is installed. You lose your “bought” license, keep it safe. • Generic drivers are supported and installed but specific drivers are ignored • Additional upfront fee, committee to establish • Must manage Hardware, driver and peripheral support yourself. • Access to loan unit, but it is of a limited time.

Finally…. • Committee application: itdirector@bishops. org. za • More information and tours can be arranged of the amazing applications and systems available • Expanding all the time • Keeping up with rest of the world • Way ahead of what everyone else is doing • Please support the committee choice. • THANK YOU