Learn From the Education IT Experts At Extreme Connect 2018

Have a sticky IT challenge at your university or school? Need advice on that new network project you are about to embark on at your campus? You’ll find the perfect forum to test ideas and gain insight from your educational IT peers at Extreme Connect, 2018 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Our global user conference is coming up in April, and now is the time to register.

The education birds of a feather session on the final day of the Extreme Connect 2018 user conference will be led by three experienced industry experts: Ryan Turner, UNC Chapel Hill’s manager of network operations, Bob Hartland, associate VP for IT infrastructure at Baylor University, and Dominic Tong, executive director of technology infrastructure and engineering at Aldine Independent School District in Houston. It provides the opportunity to get together with other higher education and K-12 IT managers and staff members to discuss topics related to IT in education. The final choice of topics is up to you: bring your questions and challenges or submit them in advance and they will be thoroughly explored here.

There are lots of reasons to attend Extreme Connect. In addition to in-depth technical sessions including 802.11ax, campus fabric, workflow automation, network and application performance optimization, there are also education-focused break-outs like, Integrating Extreme Control With Active Directory For Education Networks – that will walk you through the steps of integrating Active Directory with ExtremeControl and demonstrate it in an education environment. You’ll also get a glimpse of where the campus, data center, and mobile networking product lines are headed in the future.

Meet the experts who will be facilitating the Education Birds of a Feather Session at Extreme Connect 2018

Ryan Turner, Manager of Network Operations, UNC Chapel Hill

Ryan Turner is manager of network operations at UNC Chapel Hill. He’s an alum of NC State University and his work on network access control, technology-based copyright mitigation techniques, and wireless security methods has been recognized nationally and presented at multiple conferences including EDUCAUSE and the National Association of Attorneys General. Ryan and his team are responsible for managing one of the largest academic networks in the world, with over 3,000 switches and 9,200 access points. The UNC Chapel Hill network connects over 100,000 unique clients to the network every day.

Bob Hartland is the Associate Vice President for IT Infrastructure at Baylor University. He graduated from Baylor with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Geology (1981) and stayed to earn a Master’s degree in Physics (1983).  His first job was with an oil company where he served as an Exploration Geophysicist for 7 years concentrating mainly on offshore prospects.  Since 1990, Bob has been at Baylor. His team’s responsibilities include the security, management, monitoring and development of the Data Center as well as the telephone, CCTV, CATV, wired and wireless networks.

Dominic Tong is the Executive Director of Technology Infrastructure and Engineering for Aldine ISD in Houston, Texas. He has managed the district’s network for 4 years now, and just recently Aldine ISD upgraded the network infrastructure in their 10 high schools. The upgrade project brings high speed internet and wireless to each classroom. Because the network upgrade project went smoothly, Aldine ISD is now working on a proposal to upgrade the network infrastructure for the remaining 61 schools. Aldine ISD is planning to build ten new schools, each to be equipped with new network infrastructure.

Each of the birds of a feather (BoF) sessions is organized by industry and facilitated by IT industry leaders. We’ll have sessions for education, healthcare, transportation/retail, and venues/hospitality. As sign-ups continue, additional sessions  may be organized to accommodate other industries.

Here are a few more reasons to register now for Extreme Connect 2018. You’ll hear from network industry analysts with Gartner, ESG, and ZK Research, and have a chance to meet Extreme executives and product experts, who are ready to discuss your specific network environment. If you’re not in the education industry, there still may be a BoF session for you and lots of opportunity to compare notes with your industry peers.

For more on Extreme Connect and to register, visit the Extreme Connect 2018 User Conference page. 

This blog was originally authored by Robert Nilsson, Director of Vertical Solutions Marketing.