Behind-the-Scenes Infrastructure Upgrades In Progress

Over the past few months, Russ Vander Mey, Barrington 220’s Director of Technology Services, has been working with his team on several infrastructure projects. While these types of projects may seem mysterious to non-technical staff, these systems provide crucial, behind-the-scenes functions so our learning, teaching, and administrative systems can serve us 24/7. 

I sat down with Russ to ask him a few questions about our recent upgrades to hopefully demystify some of this work.

MATT: We have been sent some network-related email notifications here in Barrington 220 lately. The outages are all at scheduled times and only last a few minutes. What is happening behind the scenes?

RUSS: We are replacing our entire network infrastructure in Barrington 220. The existing infrastructure has served us well for the past nine years. In technology it’s almost unheard of to get nine years out of your equipment! We only keep our iPad and laptop devices for three or four years in the district, but this equipment has lasted about three times longer.

MATT: This sounds like a very large and complicated project with many potential things that could go wrong. Have we experienced any problems so far?

RUSS: Although our team has had a few minor problems, they should not have affected any of our users at all. Our team includes, Scott Moore, a few engineers from a local consulting group, and me. We have been working evenings on this project so our staff and students see little or no impact during the day.

MATT: Why did we choose to replace all this infrastructure at this time?

RUSS: The current infrastructure is nine years old. It served us well. But there are new technologies we will be deploying soon, some as a part of the referendum, that require this newer infrastructure. For example, our new security cameras, Wi-Fi, and telephone system will require the new capabilities we are installing.

MATT: What advantages can our staff and students expect to see as a result of all this work?

RUSS: If we do our job right, everything will just continue to work. New systems for referendum projects will work when they are installed and be ready to serve us for many years. In the long run, we will also see faster Internet service.

MATT: Are we planning any more big technology changes in the next year or so that staff should be aware are coming?

RUSS: We always have projects in the works that most people don’t see to keep everything working seamlessly. We will continue to inform administrators and staff in advance of any possible disruptions.

MATT: On behalf of our entire district, please pass along our thanks to your entire team.