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How Palm Beach, Florida's School District Secured Personal Data and Improved the Classroom Experience
Coastline for the city of Palm Beach, Florida iStock/ Crystal Bolin Photography
Presented by
Arrow Electronics & NetApp
Presented by
Arrow Electronics & NetApp
School districts, like that of Palm Beach County, Florida, generate huge amounts of critical data.
Within the district, teachers, administrators, students, parents, and even alumni all use the Student Information System to retrieve homework assignments, grades, projects, paperwork, and attendance records. These users expect immediate access even to archived data, some of which dates back 30 years.
“Student data is the essence of the school district,” says Joe Zoda, senior system engineer, School District of Palm Beach County.
Having the data management capability to make the data readily accessible is complicated by the reality that the district, like all public schools, faces immense budget pressure. Every dollar spent on IT is a dollar not spent on textbooks and direct education benefits for K-12 students.
However, the district had a critical need to provide secure access to student data, improve teacher and administrator productivity, and create efficiencies in its data center.
To address these challenges, the school district partnered with NetApp. It implemented a new system to secure designated volumes that provide storage for the Student Information System and other select databases. This approach allowed the district to encrypt data only where needed, avoiding excess CPU overhead, among other advantages. Additionally, by simplifying infrastructure and SAN administration, the school district was able to reduce the total cost of operations and reduce the time spent on application and batch processing by 50%.
Finally, the additional data management, storage, and analysis capabilities have improved classroom experiences, enabling students to more easily access assignments through the district’s Student Information Center, while parents can view their children’s grades and attendance records, and instructors and district administrators can more quickly find historical information.
Check out the full case study to learn more about how NetApp helped the Palm Beach School District improve student data security and the classroom experience.
This content was made possible by our sponsor. The editorial staff of RouteFifty was not involved in its preparation.
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