Freehold Regional High School District And WhatsUp Gold Partner, TransNet

WhatsUp Gold allows FRHSD to centralize its network management strategy and monitor the networks of six schools from one location.

Freehold Regional High School District (FRHSD) is based in Freehold, New Jersey and operates six different high schools throughout the Western Monmouth County. Connecting the six different high schools in the county, FRHSD has a network that spans across over 200 square miles and is trusted to aide in the education of more than 11,000 students.

Business Challenge

The IT infrastructure for the Freehold Regional High School District was decentralized and challenging to manage. With this being the case, the network administrators at FRHSD were left with the daunting task of monitoring and managing their vast IT infrastructure to ensure that the network performed at its peak constantly. This task was made even more difficult by the fact that the IT staff had no network management software to assist them. They were left to keep the network up and running completely on their own, which made it much harder than necessary to pinpoint network issues and keep uptime at a maximum.

FRHSD was in need of a solution that would allow them to establish a visibility into the network that they would not have otherwise, which would enable them to see any issues that may arise and resolve them rapidly. They also needed a solution that would centralize their network management.

Outcome

At the recommendation of TransNet Corporation (TransNet), a trusted WhatsUp Gold partner, FRHSD decided to purchase WhatsUp Gold to manage their entire IT infrastructure and ensure that it is always up and running. Because of the affordability of WhatsUp Gold, they were also able to include all three plug-ins with their purchase and still be within budget. WhatsUp Gold became their network management strategy and had an immediate positive impact on the effectiveness of their network.

“Our network was more or less a mess. Most of the switches were not manageable and I had no tool at all to help me keep everything up and running,” says Don Markese, Technology Director for FRHSD. “A while back the decision was finally made to do a massive overhaul of our entire network, and a proper network management solution was budgeted into that plan. I wanted to make sure that I would be able to effectively monitor and manage our network moving forward.”

Since Markese was the primary person responsible for maintaining the performance of FRHSD’s entire network, he needed a solution that was powerful enough to handle their network, yet simple enough for him to take ownership over. Taking the advice of TransNet consultant, Geoff Keochakian, Markese decided to evaluate WhatsUp Gold Premium. He was immediately impressed by the extensiveness of the product, and even more pleased by the overall ease of use that it offered him.

“I was really amazed at just how much WhatsUp Gold can do. It really allowed me to customize the configuration of my alerts and notifications as well as my network maps,” comments Markese.“The product is very intuitive and really allows me to set it up in a way that works best for our network. Also, the added robustness and functionality that we were able to get with the plug-ins really allowed me to gain a complete view into and total control over our network.”

After running the evaluation, Markese made the decision to go ahead and purchase a WhatsUp Gold Premium license as well as all three of the integrated plug-ins. TransNet worked closely with FRHSD to configure and install the network management solution to meet their specific requirements. TransNet also conducted the training with FRHSD IT, ensuring the successful implementation of the network management solution.

Purchasing WhatsUp Gold has allowed Markese to centralize his network management strategy with the main NOC located at the School District’s central office, and given him the ability to keep an eye on all six of the schools to ensure there were no issues in the network’s performance. “WhatsUp Gold was vital in keeping the network’s uptime to a maximum, and by having alerts and notifications sent right to my pager I was able to rapidly pin-point any issues and resolve them a lot quicker than before,” states Markese.

The plug-ins, and specifically NetFlow Monitor, have also had a positive impact on the FRHSD network right away. After the software and plug-ins were installed, Markese noticed that there was a large spike in unauthorized bandwidth traffic coming from one of the school buildings. With NetFlow, he was able to monitor this abnormality over the next couple of days and noticed that this spike was a daily recurrence. As the spike had a detrimental effect on the performance of the entire network, Markese used NetFlow Monitor to determine the source of this unauthorized traffic. He was then able to notify the principal of the school where this was occurring, and they were able to put a stop to the illegal use of the network’s bandwidth before it caused any further problems.

“If it weren’t for WhatsUp Gold and NetFlow monitor, that unauthorized usage of the network bandwidth likely would have gone unnoticed and continued to have a negative effect on the overall performance of the network,” says Markese. “So the benefits of having WhatsUp Gold and the plug-ins at the head of our network management strategy have already been noticeable. The comprehensiveness of the product has really given me complete control of the network and has greatly enhanced its overall performance.”

About TransNet Corporation

TransNet, a valued WhatsUp Gold Partner, is a leading IP communications and IT sales and support provider for corporate, educational, and governmental clients. TransNet, based in Somerville, NJ, is highly regarded for its expertise in systems design, staffing, procurement, implementation, and support.

TransNet consultants enable clients by interactively transferring knowledge about the WhatsUp Gold product line. Their goal is for the client to be familiar with WhatsUp Gold and the plug-ins and to have the skill set to take the installation beyond the initial configuration.