Lightspeed Systems Premier Partner

Switchshop are proud to announce that they met Lightspeed's strict criteria and become one of the first Lightspeed Premier partners in the UK.

As with most partner programs Switchshop have achieved a level of product knowledge, technical training and sales to become one of the first Lightspeed Premier Partners in the UK.

Switchshop work closely with our education customers to provide, what we feel are the best solutions to their issues. We normally specify Meru for Wireless, HP for Networking and Lightspeed for content filtering and reporting.

Since 1999 Lightspeed Systems have been working with educators to develop a fully customisable solution that can be moulded for each individual establishments needs.  Their solutions gives schools and colleges who are struggling with limited resources and increasing demands, an easy and safe way to help today's students learn, utilise new technologies, and develop 21st-century skills—all without overburdening IT staff or educators.

Their solutions include a category based web filter with over a billion entries, classroom control including teacher overrides and lockouts, an online social learning tool full of rich resources and easy to use controls for tablets and smart phones to enable 24/7 learning.

Very Busy BETT 2013 for Switchshop

Switchshop enjoyed a fantastic start to the new year at the BETT show in London's Excel exhibition centre. Switchshop were majoring on HP, Lightspeed and Meru Networks and indeed we had a massive interest in all manufacturers solutions.

Our stand was constantly busy and with both our technical sales team and our senior engineers available to discuss clients requirements in detail we had a fantastic response. On the Edugeek forums we were getting good reviews for our excellent technical knowledge and great advice but suspiciously also for our great range of giveaways !!!

We had a great interest in BYOD for both Meru Wireless and Lightspeed content filtering also a number of schools were interested in upgrading their wired networks with the HP networking portfolio.

If you never got around to visiting us a BETT please contact our sales department who will be more than happy to discuss any requirements you may have.

Meru Networks Best For Education

If you are having issues with wireless coverage and connectivity in your school then it may be time to look at replacing it with Meru.

In our opinion Meru is simply the best solution for Schools needing wireless connectivity. The explosion of BYOD in education with tablets, smartphones and laptops makes connecting these devices back to the network a massive issue for most microcell wireless systems. Meru excels in deployments that require a large number of devices connecting to the network at the same time, for instance 30 students in a class.

Meru wireless is based on single channel technology and cleverly manages bandwidth and connectivity to enable the system to support the numbers of users that schools tend to fire at them.

Switchshop are continually replacing older microcell wireless technologies with Meru and can supply a large number of reference sites as required. We use Ekahau wireless site survey software and comprehensive spectrum analysers to produce an extremely detailed and accurate site survey report. From this we can specify a solution that is very accurate, from which we can specify the number of access points and exact locations. We also get to see what else is using your available wireless channels and will design a solution to best suit the available channels.

Another key advantage of Meru is the ease in which you can simply add more access points as and when required as they can all share the same channel, unlike a microcell solution that would need to be completely remapped in most cases.

Please contact us if you are having issues with your current wireless network.

Switchshop's HP IMC Demo Suite Open for Business

Switchshop are pleased to announce that our HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC) demo suite is now fully available to our customers for viewing and testing.

The state of the art single pane of glass management system has been added to Switchshop's extensive demo suite to enable our customers to view the technologies and solutions that our team are proposing to meet their current and future challenges.

Currently set up in a virtual environment utilising VMWare hosted on HP servers the deployment allows us to demonstrate not just the power of IMC's basic management features but also that of it's many modules including NAC, QoS, Wireless Management (WSM), Reporting, MPLS Manager and many more.

Switchshop engineers have been deploying IMC within our customer base for 4+ years within NHS, Educatiion, Public Sector and Private Sector environments.  This large and varied install base has given us an intrinsic knowledge as to what people demand from a management platform and allow us to quickly tailor a solution to meet your needs following a pre-sales converstation.

If you are interested in visiting the Switchshop demo facility or would like some pre-sales advice around IMC then please don't hesitate to contact your account manager directly or call the sales team on 01438 831870 who will be more than happy to assist.

Chanelle Royston joins the Switchshop Apprentice Academy

Switchshop are delighted to welcome to Chanelle to the apprenticeship team.

Chanelle will be developing new business in addition to assisting our existing customer base, ensuring they receive an even more efficient response than usual.  Chanelle has always held an ambition to work within a sales environment and as such is looking forward to assisting new and current customers alike with their switch, wireless and storage needs.

If you would like more information on how to join the Switchshop Apprentice Academy in either a sales or technical role then please contact James Curry on 01438 831870

Technology in Action Day

November 7th sees Switchshop host our first Technology in Action Day at our head office based in Hertfordshire.  Technologies on display will include those from HP, Meru, Lightspeed and SonicWALL.  The Switchshop engineering team will be present to guide you through the systems and provide you with examples of issues we encounter within environments we deal with and how technologies we use overcome them.

Paul Brown joins the Switchshop Apprentice Academy

Switchshop are pleased to welcome to Paul to the apprenticeship team.

Paul will be developing new business in addition to furthering his knowledge and understanding of a variety of IT technologies.  It is Paul’s ambition to become a Sales Account Manager whilst obtaining a number of industry recognised certifications from a variety of vendors including HP, Meru and VMware.

If you would like more information on how to join the Switchshop Apprentice Academy in either a sales or technical role then please contact James Curry on 01438 831870

Switchshop Technology Show

September 12th sees Switchshop host our very first Technology Show at Robinson College Cambridge.  HP, Meru, Lightspeed and the Switchshop engineering team will be present, detailing how our combined solutions and support can help your organisation overcome today's challenges.