OBJECTIVE:Presentation Girls’ Primary School wanted to modernise its computing facilities, while minimising its environmental impact and reducing costs.

APPROACH:The School worked with HP to deploy an HP MultiSeat solution that allows it to almost double the number of PC seats in the computer lab with minimal expenditure.

IT IMPROVEMENTS:• Four HP MultiSeat units make

administration, management and support much easier.

• Less cabling results in a safer learning environment for pupils.

• 19 power hungry PCs have now been reduced to four easily administered HP MultiSeats.

BUSINESS BENEFITS:• The computer room can now cater for

even the largest class, ensuring all pupils get a dedicated terminal.

• The reduction in energy use will save the school an estimated €8.00 per day.

• With much less heat generated, the learning environment is more pleasant, less cluttered and now much more conducive to teaching.

HP CUSTOMER CASE STUDY:Presentation Girls’ Primary School deploys HP MultiSeat solution to provide interactive learning for pupils

INDUSTRY:Education

Presentation Girls’ Primary School in Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland is a Catholic primary school catering for girls from ages four to thirteen, as well as running pre-school classes for children with Autism. It seeks to provide a broad and balanced education in an atmosphere of mutual respect with an appreciation of the individual needs of pupils, staff, parents and the wider community. At present, the School caters for 465 pupils. The teaching staff consists of an administrative principal, 17 mainstream teachers, five resource teachers and two language support teachers. The School has a pleasant, happy working atmosphere and its motto is “Aoibhinn Beatha an Scolaire” which means School Days are Happy Days.

“The HP MultiSeat solution has solved our IT challenges and provided a robust, low-cost and easily managed technology platform that allows us to bring learning to life.”

Ann Kelly, IT administrator, Presentation Girls’ Primary School

PRESENTATION GIRLS’ PRIMARY SCHOOLPresentation Girls’ Primary School reaps benefits of new HP ms6000 MultiSeat solution

OUTDATED COMPUTER FACILITIES HAMPER LEARNINGPresentation School had a dedicated computer room as well as a number of PCs in classrooms, but it was clear that the computing resources were not being used to their full potential and that a number of issues surrounded the set up of the computer room, which housed 19 PCs – the maximum number that could fit in the small space.

This posed a number of problems for the School, most significantly for class sizes ranging from 28 to 35, meaning that some pupils would have to share a computer. Not only did this result in crowded teaching conditions, but the combined heat generated by the PCs in the confined space made the room stuffy and unpleasant. In addition to this, the power often tripped due to the drain on the electricity feed, so it became clear to IT administrator and Year Five teacher, Ann Kelly, that the room in its current state was not fit for teaching purposes.

“Teachers had become reluctant to use the computer room because it couldn’t cater for every pupil, and the fact that the PCs were running all day in an enclosed environment made it very warm. In addition, the vast amount of cabling presented a health and safety risk,” explains Mrs.Kelly. “Plus, PCs were out of date with some of the network PC’s running Microsoft Windows 2000. It became clear that we needed to revamp the facilities in order to provide a welcoming learning space.”

Following a recent extension to the School, it was provided with a small budget to provide IT equipment for the newly built classrooms, as well as a new, larger room to serve as the computer lab. However, this room was only equipped with four Local Area Network ports, making connectivity a major issue. This provided the impetus to rethink its approach to IT.

“We had the larger room but there was no way we could use it to connect the number of PCs we needed,” adds Mrs.Kelly. “We were seriously considering shutting down the computing facilities for a term and moving back to the smaller, less comfortable room in the new school year,” says Mrs.Kelly.

A NEW APPROACH TO COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLSHP Project Manager and parent of one of Presentation Girls’ Primary School’s pupils, Tyrone Williams, was familiar with the HP MultiSeat solution and came up with a novel solution for the School. The PC sharing solution extends the student computing environment by delivering the familiar, reliable experience of a dedicated PC to multiple users for maximum cost savings, management and power efficiency.

Presentation Girls’ Primary School opted for four HP ms6000 MultiSeat units, installed by HP partner Net Communications, each supporting up to eight users on widescreen HP LE1851w monitors.

“The room is much less cluttered with more space for pupils and because there are only four PCs, the heat emission is reduced and with it the energy costs.”

—Ann Kelly, IT administrator, Presentation Girls’ Primary School

By retaining three of the existing PCs, the School could meet its goal of catering for the largest class which is made up of 35 pupils. The remaining PCs were either decommissioned or distributed among the new classrooms, meaning all classrooms are now prepared for the interactive whiteboard technology that the School hopes to roll out next year.

REAPING THE REWARDS OF MULTISEAT COMPUTINGNow, instead of having 19 power-hungry PCs to manage in the computer room, there are four easily administered HP MultiSeats; the benefits were immediate and significant.

“Most importantly, the largest class can now ensure that every pupil will have access to their own screen. But there are numerous other advantages,” continues Mrs.Kelly. “The room is much less cluttered with more space for pupils and because there are only four PCs, the heat emission is reduced and with it the energy costs. Administration is also easier because applications need only be installed in each MultiSeat.”

The HP MultiSeats run a number of applications, including Microsoft Office and a range of educational tools.

Presentation Girls’ Primary School is also a Green Flag school, which means that environmental considerations play a key role in decision-making. The new solution has helped the school reduce its energy consumption and save money. It is estimated that, courtesy of the new solution, the school saves €8.00 every day it is open – over the course of a year that adds up to considerable savings.

Hardware performance has also not been an issue for the School. “Even with eight pupils streaming live video from eight different websites, there is no appreciable deterioration in service,” concludes Mrs.Kelly. “As far as the pupil is concerned, the experience is identical to using a dedicated PC. It has also helped our children learn about networking and gain a broader knowledge of how computers work. Given we don’t actually teach IT as a subject, this is an invaluable bonus.”

As a result of the success of the deployment Presentation Girl’s Primary School’s sister establishment, Maynooth Boys’ Primary School will also be rolling out a HP MultiSeat platform to support its computer room.

CUSTOMER SOLUTION AT A GLANCEPRIMARY APPLICATIONS • Microsoft Office

PRIMARY HARDWARE• 4 x HP ms6000• 32 x HP LE1851w Monitors

To learn more, visit www.hp.com

© 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA3-0938EEW, Created August 2010