In early 2007, NETGEAR, a global provider of networking products signed a contract with the UAE Ministry of Education to kit out 350 schools in the UAE with wireless networking solutions. The contract, worth AED 1.8 million, stipulated that NETGEAR provide wireless access points, ports and adaptors for full scale implementation. Implementation in the UAE schools has been successfully concluded, and feedback has been positive. DIDACTICS WORLD met up with Ahmed Ziedan, Channel Sales Manager for NETGEAR Middle East to discuss the deal and its implications for future investment in the education sector.

Zeidan, soft spoken yet intense, immediately launched into the background against which the deal was formalized. He pointed out that Ministries of Education worldwide have historically not been the fastest out of the blocks in adopting Information Technology.

“Ministries for education have perhaps the hardest task of all ministries because investing in technology for education can be expensive, and does not generate an immediately discernable return on investment. This can mean that ministries of education globally can lag behind others in the proficient use of enabling technology,” he explained.

The UAE Ministry of Education, however, is anxious to make up for lost time. Choosing Dubai as a pilot, the Ministry launched the wireless networking initiative to allow over 70,000 students and teachers better and easier access to internet-based resources and new ways of collaborating and interacting. The pilot was meant to set the groundwork for further implementations all over the country. Five firms were short-listed for the source out, and NETGEAR won the contract by offering best value at the most competitive rates.

The MoE wanted to balance the twin needs of advancement and cost-effectiveness and gave all five short listed technology providers a test school to network to determine the efficacy of competing solutions.

Zeidan points out why wireless applications offer functional and cost saving benefits over traditional physical networks. For buildings that were designed without necessary design provisions, cabled solutions pose a problem when the cables have to be passed through walls and other infrastructure.The cost of such modifications can be prohibitive.Wireless solutions negate the need for structural modifications, so can work out cheaper for buyers.Apart from cost, mobility offers another excellent advantage for deploying wireless technology. Gone are the days where users must necessarily be confined to a fixed place.Wireless networking allows for unfettered access for multiple users in any given areas, and physical assets such PCs, projectors, etc, can be moved without requiring changes in the cabling.

NETGEAR’s optimized technology allowed them to use only two access points to deliver coverage to areas that their competitors had to cover with four points. This obviously reduced the cost of installation. But did that economy come at the cost of performance? Not at all, explained Zaidan. Rather, NETGEAR’s technological prowess coupled with an understanding of what regional markets required formed a winning combination. Zeidan holds that NETGEARs products are tailored to regional specifications, and usually win out over international ones. He cited an example to prove his point.

“International vendors operating in the region usually adapt solutions that they sell in other markets – for instance in Europe or the USA. But differing requirements in the region make direct implementation of such products harder. For instance, many international locations make use of thin, lightweight building material such as wood and plaster to wall rooms, offices and lecture halls, which allows relatively easy passage of wireless waves. In the Middle East, concrete is a major ingredient of building design, and is also extremely unfriendly to wireless coverage. This throws in a new variable to be dealt with.”

Fully understanding that WiFi,unlike digital GSM phone signals, uses analogue radio signals that have trouble passing through concrete, NETGEAR used a different sort of router for the school buildings it was networking. NETGEAR routers have a smart electronic antenna design. They contain seven antennas that track user activity and actively direct the signal where it is most needed. The multiple antennas directionalize their transmissions to make them travel further, and also help signal fidelity by ensuring that users get a signal from different directions with less chances of interference. The mechanism, not unlike the cell to cell transfer of GSM mobile phone users, increases the effective range of the routers. This technology, and the expertise to effectively deploy it when turning conventional school buildings into hubs of wireless activity, gave NETGEAR its trump card over its rivals Yet,implementation wasn’t simply a case of throwing superior technology at the problem. There were a host of other variables that needed consideration.The Municipality schools had already invested in interactive equipment such as wireless projectors, and any solution had to ensure compatibility with existing technology. Zeidan explained that wireless projectors generally use a different wireless band (band “a,”which suffers less interference) from other network applications. The commonly used band “g” is faster, but can be susceptible to interference.

NETGEAR supplied the Ministry with adapters to ensure integrated communication over the same infrastructure. This setup means that students continued communicating with one another and with the instructor using the “g” band, but teachers interacted with projectors using the “a”band that was entirely free of interference and thus did not result in any stutter while content was being displayed. Zeidan pointed out that his concern at the time was that compatibility issues with legacy technologies, such as old PCs, outdated firmware, etc, might have reduced the effectiveness of the implemented system. He explained that if even a small component of the entire infrastructure works imperfectly, end-users sometimes demonstrate a knee-jerk reaction in blaming vendors and implementers, even though the problem may reside with one of the older pieces of technology. Fortunately, there haven’t been any major issues to date with NETGEAR’s implementations.

Some of the networked schools had outlying structures apart from the main building, where the distances involved made wireless coverage difficult.NETGEAR overcame the hurdle with the use of their innovative Wall Plugs. The plugs, which fit into standard electric sockets, are fitted with Ethernet cables. The Wall Plug transforms network data into electric impulses that are transmitted over readily available electric cabling. At the other end, another Wall Plug translates the pulses received into transmittable data compatible with the network’s protocol. “The Wall Plug transmits data over electrical cabling, turning already-installed infrastructure into a network. Data can be piggybacked onto electrical cables for applications where neither installing wireless coverage nor laying new Ethernet cables is an optimal solution,” said Zeidan.

NETGEAR has been leveraging its success at the schools in Dubai to strike deals with other Ministries in the region. Notably,NETGEAR has finalized a deal with Qatar’s Ministry of Education to implement wireless networking technology in educational institutions there.

When asked for his take on the rising levels of investment in IT and interactive enabling technologies in regional education, Zeidan predicted that levels will rise further as education delivery takes priority.However, investment in the next few years will remain unstructured,with schools, colleges and universities spending on initial IT infrastructure, but not budgeting for upgrades or scalability.While more and more buyers are looking at making the first jump onto the IT ladder, there is still insufficient forward planning to deal with future demand.

But why might that be the case? “Most vendors and professionals think that the IT manager is responsible for the final buying decision, and this model does apply in most parts of the world. Paradoxically, in the Middle East, the hierarchy is reversed, and the Financial Controller, rather than the IT Manager, usually makes the final purchase decision. The IT manager might take the initiative to implement a new system, but will need to justify the investment to the Financial Controller. This means that many ICT investment decisions are made on the basis of costing rather than an understanding of what additional capabilities and scalability might be required in the future,” Zeidan explained.

Purchase decisions made by financial managers, in consultation with the IT managers, aren’t necessarily far off the mark for current requirements, but don’t usually take into account future needs, and are therefore not very scalable. The emphasis is more on cost-saving than laying a robust ICT infrastructure that can evolve to meet needs.

At the same time, Zeidan believes that the next two to three years will see bits-and-pieces installations that will see IT infrastructure extended to certain buildings networked areas, while others are ignored. Educational institutions may decide to network the lab areas, without including classrooms, or perhaps nominate a central area as a WiFi zone.“While these are positive steps and will boost the quality of the education experience, they will not tap into the full potential of an integrated system that allows free interaction, mobility, and the ability to access resources while on the move,”he said.But is that situation likely to change? Zeidan expects that it will, and soon.

“After the next three years or so, I believe that integration will become the new paradigm of IT investment. Large vendors, including Intel, are working to reduce cost of ownership of technology for schools, and the effects of such forces will lead to an emphasis on bottom up design integrating different functionality. The effects of market innovations that depress the cost of ownership will start making a regional impact in coming years,” Zeidan concluded.