Gloscat Interim

8/6/2019 Gloscat Interim

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Phase 2 Innovative ICT Projects Interim Report

Project Bluetooth

Project Partners

Gloucestershire College of Arts and TechnologyNational Star Centre College of Further EducationTower Hamlets CollegeRed-M

Overview of project aims and objectives

Aims:

To explore the use of Bluetooth within specified learning environmentsTo confirm whether the application of Bluetooth can improve access to learning fordisabled learnersTo confirm whether the flexibility provided by Bluetooth improves students project workTo compare Bluetooth with existing wireless systems currently being used at TowerHamlets College.

Objectives:

Evaluate the benefits to teaching and learning of using Bluetooth within a standardclassroom environment with an AS level group, which doesn't have access to an existing

LAN.

Evaluate the benefits of using Bluetooth with a mobile learning unit working with acommunity group. This will allow for innovation within teaching and learning as well asshow how Bluetooth can impact on widening participation within Gloucestershire.

Evaluate the benefits of using Bluetooth within the National Star Centre to determine howthe technology will impact equal opportunities by improving accessibility for students touse notepad PC's.

Evaluate the benefits of using Bluetooth to support students with their group work within a

college itself.

Evaluate the use of Bluetooth within a drop in flexible learning centre.

Evaluate how Bluetooth can extend existing college wired LANs.

Project Context

The involvement of three fairly distinct colleges has clearly been a particular strength ofthe project to date. Gloscat, as a large general FE College has taken on the role of projectmanagement. In addition to this Gloscat will be testing the effectiveness of Bluetooth as ameans of communication and assisting delivery of content in conjunction with it's LAN atthe Park Campus.



The National Star Centre College of Further Education (Star centre) has the role of testingBluetooth, again in conjunction with it's existing LAN, to determine the benefits of using thetechnology to increase disabled student access to learning. A significant aspect of thisproject relates to linking the Star Centre’s remote accommodation block to the LAN using aBluetooth access server.

Tower Hamlets role is crucial in testing the interface between Bluetooth and its' existing802.11b wireless Ethernet. As a college with significant experience of using wirelesstechnology to date, their involvement in the project has been wholeheartedly welcomed.

Red-M is the principal supplier of equipment for the project. Red-M is an acknowledgedleader in the Bluetooth networking market. The company develops and markets hardwareand software product solutions that enable mobile data, voice and video communicationsinside buildings and public concourses to a range of devices - including computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless application protocol (WAP) smart phones andother emerging information appliances - using wireless Bluetooth technology.Red-M was founded as an internal start-up of Madge Networks N.V. (NASDAQ:MADGF)

and is now an associate company, having secured $35m second round funding from ApaxPartners and Amadeus Capital in April 2001.Red-M has won several awards including the first ever Award for Innovation at the annualBluetooth Congress in June 2000 and more recently PC Magazine’s ‘Technical Innovation

Award’. Red-M is an Associate Member of the Bluetooth Special Internet Group (SIG) andis an active member of the Personal Area Networking (PAN) working group.

Report on progress to date

Tower Hamlets College has recently obtained a Nokia Bluetooth kit, which has drivers forWindows, 98 and 2000 but not for NT. Delivery of a Socket Early Adopter Bluetooth Kit isexpected from the USA shortly at this time testing will then be able to take place. TheEthernet side is fine and measurements of signal strength and connectivity efficiency havetaken place.

Gloscat and The Star Centre met with Red-M in March. Red-M came to the Star Centreand connected a 3000 AS access server to the colleges LAN. We were able to linksuccessfully to the LAN using laptop PC's and Handspring PDA's. Red-M was able tosupply the project with products that were commercially available at that time. The abilityto offer a fully tested product clearly put them in an advantageous position regardingpurchasing. We were also favourably disposed to Red-M because as a company they

were clearly interested in using the access server to support and enhance the functions ofour existing Intranets and college networks. We felt it necessary, in the interest of theproject to pursue other possible suppliers however. Investigations however could not findanother supplier of commercially available equipment. We began working with BT whoinitially advised that Ericsson would be able to provide us with a workable solution. Aninitial demonstration of the Ericsson equipment, which was still in the developmentalstages, left us feeling that Red-M would be a more appropriate supplier. For unspecifiedreasons BT advised that they were no longer able to support the project and this confirmedthat we were right in selecting Red-M as the projects preferred supplier.

We have just taken delivery of two 3000AS access servers and two 1000 AP access

points. This equipment will be split between Gloscat and the Star Centre. Between March,when Red-M initially demonstrated, and June the specification of the equipment changed.The access server's and points are now able to support piconets of up to 4 consecutive



users per device. Therefore each college can accommodate eight consecutive users ontheir Bluetooth networks. Full product specifications can be found on the Red-M web site.http://www.red-m.com/Default.asp

Full installation of the equipment will take place in July and early August with the

equipment ready for testing with students during the autumn term. As the Red-Mequipment supports PDA's and laptops we have decided to test each of these devices andmultiples of at each site. An unexpected extra outcome of the project will be someevaluation of the use of PDA's to support students learning. We have elected to use PalmVx's for the purpose of this trial simply because Red-M have produced an expansion packwhich enables them to access the 3000AS and 1000AP.

The project therefore still expects to meet most of its original objectives. The main changeto the initial bid is that Tower Hamlets will now be evaluating the use of Bluetooth withexisting wireless networks not Gloscat.

Lessons learned

Given that the funding for the bid was almost 100% for capital it made sense to explorevarious alternatives before committing to a final purchase. When this is combined with the"emerging" nature of Bluetooth and that often we were viewing demonstrations ofequipment only in development phases, the time spent on deciding what to buy has beenabsolutely necessary. As well as discussing requirements with suppliers, we talked withwireless experts too and feel that we have made a sensible purchasing decision.

Documents

Gloscat Interim