Success Story
Success Story!
Istanbul German High School continues to lead in development with Cisco Meraki…
Cisco Meraki solutions provide an exceptional experience for students.
• WiFi-6 powered access points provide high coverage and an exceptional experience on the German High School campus.
• Data security is now at the highest level with the back-up supported Meraki MX FireWall solution.
• With Meraki network keys, an easy-to-manage network infrastructure has been created with an exceptional high level of interaction.
Istanbul German High School (DSI) was founded in 1868 as the “German and Swiss School”. The current building was constructed in 1896 in Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. Having a deep-rooted history, the school operates among German foreign schools as the “Welcoming School” in a cultural context. Istanbul German High School continues its educational life without interruption, redefining and developing itself today, as it has during its history. It does not change at all on just one issue: Raising generations that are close to both countries and cultures. This cultural exchange is based on the strengthening of countries’ understanding and mutual commitment to each other. In addition, the development of communication between Turkey and Germany throughout history has a significant place in the schooling culture of both countries.
DSI Network and System Manager Doğukan Cudin knew that there was a need for a more modern solution to meet the expectations of the school and offer the best experiences to students and the school personnel. He predicted that choosing different solutions for wireless ports, network keys, and security would be very difficult to manage the systems and would require constant intervention. Due to all these requirements, DSI management began to look for a solution that was easier to manage without compromising performance, could offer deep network analysis without the need for additional software and hardware, and could detect problems very quickly.
HOLISTIC NETWORKING SOLUTION WITH A SINGLE PROVIDER
The German High School conducted interviews and tests with different network providers to decide on the right solution. The results were very clear: While the configuration and management of other solutions were complex and difficult, the solutions offered by Cisco Meraki were very easy and understandable. Therefore, they preferred to use Meraki access points, network keys and firewall devices.
EASY, FAST AND SECURE
Meraki access points and keys allow access to technology tools that are now part of education in classrooms, thus contributing to secure and smooth learning. DSI completely removed the old network solutions during the winter period and replaced them with Meraki MR access points, allowing students and teachers to have the network access they need.
Creating an end-to-end secure, fast and easy-to-measure communication network is quite a challenge. Cisco Meraki comes into play at the point of identifying needs and providing solutions in the face of challenges. The features that only Cisco Meraki can offer include easily solving all the difficulties that can be encountered at the installation and configuration stage and during system administration, in addition to a detailed view of the entire network system in a single cloud-based management window. Since the needed changes can be made in a few clicks and implemented simultaneously across the entire campus, this saves an enormous time (95%) devoted to network management and problem detection.
“We used to have to make 20 different changes for a simple service. This required much time and labor. We also spent a lot of time fixing mistakes. It makes a big difference for us to make changes through a single management window and make sure that change applies to the entire campus.”
- Doğukan Cudin, Network and System Manager
The entire DSI communication network infrastructure has been redesigned on Meraki network keys. We created a completely renovated network infrastructure in the data center with redundant MS425s on the backbone, MS350s on campus buildings, and MS225s on endpoints. The keys are quite easy to configure and manage through the Meraki control panel. DSI information system employees learned to correctly configure all network keys, ports on access points through a short period of training, relieving the burden of the to a great extent. In addition, integrated troubleshooting tools, such as packet capture, allow easy troubleshooting of network problems. DSI had previously manually created the network schema through complex software. Now the network topology on the Meraki control panel is automatically updated, saving hours of effort.
“We can perform a simple cable test on the Meraki network key with just one command, instantly detecting problems. This really is a nice feature.”
- Doğukan Cudin, Network and System Manager
HIGH SECURITY, OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
DSI controls all traffic flow with two Meraki MX250 security devices for student data privacy and network security. The school’s entire Internet capacity is controlled via redundant MX250s. The Cisco Meraki MX250 is an integrated router, next-generation firewall, traffic shaper, and Internet gateway that is centrally managed over the web. The MX250 offers a comprehensive and detailed set of features, but is incredibly easy to deploy and manage. Intuitive web-based management significantly eliminates the workloads of data processing professionals, while cloud-based centralized management makes automatic firmware updates easier than ever.
“We now have much better coverage and a much more manageable IT infrastructure.”
- Doğukan Cudin, Network and System Manager
CISCO TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS PARTNER: F0REST TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS
At Forest Technology, we offer specialized information technology solutions and contribute to the digital transformation of organizations.
First, we determine the needs of the organizations where we are a partner in information technology solutions, and then we plan the best solutions. Our focus is always on reducing costs, while improving performance and efficiency.
We offer integrated solutions for next-generation data processing, corporate network communication, intelligent data management and hybrid cloud, and with an innovative approach, we integrate developments that we think will contribute to our customers into our products.
At Forest Technology, we are aware that user experience and customer satisfaction are critical for our business that we are doing passionately. With a similar vision, Cisco is one of our most important business partners that focuses on these areas. Cisco’s strong and user-friendly product range and continuous R&D efforts to lead developments perfectly match our corporate culture.
MORE ANALYTICAL APPROACH, MORE QUALIFIED TRAINING
As Cisco Meraki continues to add more features to its solutions, launch new products, and develop new technologies for its customers, the German High School is constantly looking for ways to maximize the use of the latest technology. Thanks to the outstanding management capabilities provided by Meraki’s holistic solutions, DSI Information Technology’s management can devote most of its time to taking on new IT initiatives and developing technology throughout the school, rather than troubleshooting or network configuration. DSI’s management finally said, “Thanks to outstanding management capabilities, minimizing the time spent for managing, troubleshooting or configuring the Meraki network, we have more time to turn our classrooms into 21st-century learning centers”.
