Background
Black Pine Circle School is a K-8 private school in Berkeley, California. Evan Jackson, the Director of Technology, oversees “everything that plugs in” from student and staff devices, to applications, to network infrastructure.
The challenge
Evan was managing 5 different third-party vendors for hardware, management, onsite breakfixes, and applications like DNS Security and VPN. While piecing together these vendors was necessary to deliver the school’s network, support was a challenge as each vendor had long wait times and could only contribute to a silo of the overall network and its applications. Performance also took a hit with dead spots and security vulnerabilities that couldn’t be easily remedied. And, although they were due for a network refresh, doing so would take their attention away from other projects and required large capital expenditures that were unaffordable.
“We had five different providers that we used that we were able to consolidate into just using Meter.”
Solution
When Evan heard about Meter’s Network as a Service, it seemed almost too good to be true. Meter offered a cost-effective alternative to Black Pine’s legacy infrastructure refresh. By bundling state-of-the-art hardware, enterprise software including DNS security, and expert support into one monthly price, Evan was able to save money on his network. Black Pine Circle School was able to eliminate the need for multiple vendors and reduce the workload on their staff, letting them focus on higher-leverage projects.
“I think I needed at least three meetings before I even started to believe that this was something that could actually be provided at an affordable cost and that there was no way a school would be able to afford this.”
Customer Value:
- Reduced cost: One monthly cost for everything – hardware, software, installation, updates, support, dashboard, and security (DNS Security, 802.1x, VPN) – eliminates the need to pay separate for everything
- Improved productivity: Meter’s expert network planning, fast support team, and unified product result in fewer disruptions and improved productivity for students, faculty, and IT staff
- Improved security: Advanced features like DNS Security to protect against cyber attacks and inappropriate content for students
- Seamless scalability: Meter grows with the school as they add and renovate additional buildings and as their network changes
- Turnkey networks: Meter's engineering and operations teams handle everything to easily transition the school's old network to the Meter network
- Faster support response times: Improving the overall reliability of the school's network