WiFi-as-a-Service: customized for Groeipunt Ninove and Maricolen Brugge

The sound of the school bell announces not only the start of classes, but also the moment when hundreds of students connect to the Internet. This presents many challenges for schools: the WiFi infrastructure must be provided for the large number of users. Moreover, security, usability and scalability are also important metrics in education.

To use digital tools as efficiently as possible in education, a robust WiFi infrastructure is needed. This is also realized by Filip Van Den Houwe, ICT coordinator at Groeipunt Ninove. Groeipunt Ninove is the adult education center of the province of East Flanders. Students can also follow some courses (partly) online. A good WiFi connection is therefore indispensable. Digitalization is also playing an increasing role in Maricolen Brugge.

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Unburdening is the key to success at Citymesh.

The fact that Citymesh takes care of monitoring the WiFi connection, thus relieving the ICT staff of schools, is one of its main strengths, according to Filip. Because he does not have to actively check that the Internet connection is working properly, he saves a lot of time. Even more: if a problem does arise with an access point, Citymesh is aware of it even before he notices it. The portal page is also a big plus according to Filip. “For me, the portal page is actually a story in itself,” he says. “This page works great, on any device. We’ve never experienced any problems with it.”

The Maricoles in Bruges were also immediately up for WiFi-as-a-Service from Citymesh. After all, they too noticed that more and more students were connecting to the Internet at the same time. Director Mieke Verhelst sums up the digital evolution in education well: “Connectivity for schools today is not just an added value, but it is an absolute necessity.” Joram Laureyns, who works as ICT coordinator at the school, believes that connectivity should support smooth operations in the classroom. This is certainly the case thanks to Citymesh’s services. Joram describes it as a total package: “From beginning to end, they follow along with the implementation and think about the school’s needs.” The link with existing tools, such as Smartschool and Microsoft 365, for example, ensures that both students and teachers can log in easily.