Award-winning internet services provider Gradwell joins RTS at BETT 2010
Last month we mentioned that we were being joined at BETT by our friends at Acousti Products. Today we are very happy to announce that Gradwell, leading internet communication services provider and Best Business winner at the 2008 Internet Telephony Service Providers’ Association (ITSPA) awards, will be supporting us at the BETT show on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th of January. Together we will demonstrate how our partnership has enabled us to develop digital telephony solutions tailored to education environments.
Budget constraints and the push for operational efficiently means 21st Century schools need to communicate more effectively than ever. Gradwell and RTS allow schools to get the most from available resources by providing flexible and cost beneficial VoIP technology, making school administration and pastoral care much easier than was previously possible. Gradwell will be demonstrating their award-winning VoIP service at BETT and explaining how features such as number portability and call management make it so attractive to schools.
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Making classrooms quieter – Acousti Products supporting RTS at BETT
As you may know we are exhibiting at the BETT show in January next year (http://www.responsetech.co.uk/2009/09/01/were-off-to-bett/). We are lucky enough to be supported by our friends from Acousti Products. www.acoustiproducts.com
Acousti provide industry-leading noise reduction solutions, helping to remove server and other IT equipment noise from schools.
We have been using Acousti’s products for years and are keen to demonstrate their effectiveness to a wider audience at BETT. The cabinets we’ll be showcasing are incredibly effective in education environments where students can have their concentration adversely affected or be distracted by the noise of IT equipment.
The clever design of the racks allows equipment to be placed directly in classrooms without disturbing staff and students or negatively impacting the longevity of the hardware.
Acousti will be joining us for Thursday and Friday of the exhibition, on-hand to demonstrate how Quiet Racks can improve learning environments in your school. Don’t worry if you’re attending on Wednesday or Saturday though, the racks will still be there and as certified Acousti resellers RTS have attended the necessary training sessions to talk knowledgeably about the whole Acousti range.
Come see RTS Technology Solutions and Acousti Products at BETT and discover why we’re proud that our stand will be the quietest at the show!
RTS receives a generous ‘Thank You’ (again)
Another happy client sent us a letter of thanks recently. A few months ago the St. John nursing home in Kent asked us to provide a new Audio Visual system and wireless networking infrastructure in order to improve the entertainment and communications provision for the residents.
Mrs J Mitchell, the matron, kindly wrote to us with feedback from the home.
“I wanted to say how very impressed I and my staff were with the way you and your staff conducted yourselves whilst working in the Home. Often it’s difficult to get people coming into the Home to appreciate that this is a Home and not an institution, and this seems to affect the quality of the work done and the care taken doing it.”
We always try to be considerate of our clients so the team was very happy to hear this. We are also considerate of our clients’ environments – much of the success of our solutions is owed to the care taken to fit the equipment with the surroundings.
“I am delighted with the way the installation of the TV and wireless connection has been done and the careful attention that you all gave to hiding all the wires etc away from view.”
Thank you Mrs Mitchell for your kind words, it’s always great to hear that our clients are enjoying their solutions.
The letter is duplicated below with the kind permission of Mrs Mitchell.
Ofcom – 60 per cent of British children use the net unsupervised
Research published this month by Ofcom reveals that 60 per cent of 12-15 year olds use the internet mostly unsupervised, as do 35 per cent of 8-11 year olds. The report also suggests that children are starting to use the internet at a younger age, with numbers of internet users in the 5-7 age group increasing.
Growing numbers of children have internet access in their own bedrooms. One-third of those between 12 and 15 years of age, one in six in the 8-11 age group and 3 per cent of 5-7 years olds have such access.
Many children play video games. Three quarters of 12-15 year olds have a games console in their rooms. When asked who they normally play with, one in seven 12-15 year olds reported that they play with people over the internet.
Such findings highlight the importance of educating our children about the dangers of internet use.
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RTS become NETGEAR PowerShift partners
NETGEAR make great networking equipment, which is why we often choose their kit for our solutions – it not only performs but is also cost-effective.
Our new partnership helps us stay up to date with all the developments in tools and technology at NETGEAR. The resources and training available to us mean that our staff members are more able to support solutions featuring NETGEAR technology. In addition, we are able to receive additional partner discounts and promotions as well as place special bids, offering us greater pricing flexibility.
For more information about NETGEAR and their range of products, please visit www.netgear.co.uk.
Should my school upgrade to Windows 7?
Yesterday Microsoft launched the eagerly-awaited Windows 7. After the disappointment of Vista, people were keen to see whether Microsoft could redeem themselves and make an operating system that improved noticeably on XP.
In the preceding months the Microsoft marketing machine generated an exceptional amount of buzz, with Windows 7 remaining a popular trending topic on Twitter http://is.gd/4vYbR. Such was the hype before launch that Amazon posted that Windows 7 was the biggest pre-order product of all time, even beating the indomitable Harry Potter http://is.gd/4vYp0
From the sounds of things the wait was worth it, with internet reviews finding the system cleaner, faster, stronger and more usable.
So, what does this all mean for schools? We understand that rolling out a school-wide operating system upgrade is no small task, so you need to be sure that the new system will bring strong enough benefits.
Gerald Haigh, education writer and journalist interviewed six UK schools who were early adopters of Windows 7. He writes about their experiences of upgrading to the new operating system in a paper entitled Windows 7 in schools: The early experiences.
RTS receives a generous `Thank You`
We always appreciate feedback from our clients, it’s important to hear what we’re doing right and where improvements can be made. Occasionally we receive letters of thanks from clients who are particularly happy with our work. One such letter arrived last week.
During the summer we helped Quinton Church Primary School advance their network infrastructure. We performed a migration of their legacy curriculum server to brand new hardware, installed new switches and rolled out a wireless network to cover the entire school, allowing their mobile IT suites to be used anywhere.
Mark Mitchell the Deputy Head Teacher was kind enough to provide some feedback, highlighting our ‘professional attitude’ and ‘flexibility’, including:
“The work was all completed in the timeframe you had specified and the quality of the work is of the highest standard”
“I wanted to express my appreciation and would be glad to recommend all of your services to any future clients of yours”
Our focus on improving education meant that we were particularly pleased to hear that our technology solution “is having a really positive impact on the children’s learning”.
Thank you Mr Mitchell!
The letter has been duplicated in full with the kind permission of Mr Mitchell and Quinton Church Primary School.
How public service start-ups could transform Britain for the better
In the battlefield of IT provisions it is always good to be reminded of what we start-ups have over the public sector and large private companies. We thrive on the competition from big organisations and see the challenge they bring as a positive way to improve our business. This confidence is partly due to the knowledge of the advantages we hold.
Paul Miller, education evangelist and CEO of School of Everything, puts it well.
“Start-ups can find ways of connecting with public services by coming up with new ideas. But they are also small enough to talk directly to their users, learning how to improve their service day-by-day – something that the public sector struggles with because of the bureaucracy of change.”
“The capital efficiency [of start-ups] in creating innovation is unrivalled by anything in the public sector.”
UK’s young digital Britons want more technology in the classroom
Four out of five students in England and Wales would like to see more technology in the classroom according to fresh research by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. The research suggests that the nation’s young believe that technology can help them learn, with around 40% saying they would be interested in a greater use of interactive whiteboards. A similar number would welcome an increase in AV equipment such as DVD players.
The Ipsos MORI research questioned 2,447 11 to 16 year olds about their feelings towards technology in the classroom. Of the students questioned, over half wanted their teachers to use computers and the internet to help advance learning techniques.
NETSA’s Chief Executive Jonathan Kestenbaum was excited by the findings. “Young people will be at the heart of the digital economy so it’s promising to see school children embracing digital technologies not just as a form of entertainment, but as a way to learn. This doesn’t mean we have to rip up text books ‘California-style’, but rather look at innovative ways of learning which will best prepare children for the future.”
The research found that many students would indeed support Governor Schwarzenegger’s ‘California-style’ call to replace traditional text books with new technologies.
Young people are traditionally strong adopters of new technology. A recent study by Ofcom (The Communications Market, 2008) indicates that 81% of boys and 77% of girls aged between 12 and 15 have access to the internet. The large majority (70%) use it every day.
The Governor to Terminate Textbooks
California’s is suffering from a severe budget deficit. Currently the state is desperately trying to meet its $24.3bn shortfall and is fielding ever more original money-saving suggestions.
In addition to the sweeping budget cuts already announced, Governor Schwarzenegger has been asking his Twitter followers for their suggestions. He has already approved a plan to sign his name on state cars in order to increase their sale value.
The cuts are affecting every corner of state spending, not least of all the education sector, which is expected to lose around $3bn.
In a bold move to save money, Governor Schwarzenegger has voiced his support for removing hard-copy textbooks from all schools and introducing eBooks.
“It’s nonsensical and expensive to look to traditional hard-bound books when information today is so readily available in electronic form” Schwarzenegger wrote.
“Especially now, when our school districts are strapped for cash and our state budget deficit is forcing further cuts to classrooms, we must do everything we can to untie educators’ hands and free up dollars so that schools can do more with fewer resources.”
