Lake Washington School District

Operating System Upgrade Helps School District Streamline IT, Strengthen Security

The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) administers 50 public schools serving nearly 24,000 students in cities near Seattle, Washington. For years, LWSD has been a satisfied user of the Windows® XP operating system, but with the release of Windows Vista® Business, the district saw an opportunity to take advantage of improved IT management, networking, and security features. Working with HP, LWSD has so far deployed Windows Vista to 6,500 student, faculty, and staff computers, and 6,500 more computers will receive the new operating system as older hardware is replaced. Now, LWSD can continue its policy of offering advanced technology that is easy to manage and use, while strengthening IT security and simplifying network connectivity. Windows Vista is also proving to be highly reliable, and no operating system–related security breaches have occurred since deployment began.

Situation

The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) is the public school authority for Kirkland, Redmond, and about half of Sammamish, all cities located a few miles east of Seattle, Washington. Covering 76 square miles, LWSD comprises 50 elementary, junior high, and high schools, attended by approximately 24,000 students served by 1,400 faculty and 400 staff.

Windows Vista security features are, in a word, flexible… Since deploying Windows Vista, we haven’t seen any operating system–related security breaches.  Dr. John A. Vaille Chief Technology Officer Lake Washington School District

LWSD has long recognized the value of bringing information technology into the classroom to promote educational excellence. “Because of the industries that operate in our district and the caliber of their employees, the community’s expectations for LWSD are very high,” says Dr. John A. Vaille, Chief Technology Officer for the Lake Washington School District. “We get a lot of community support, we’re a high-performing district academically, and a large percentage of our graduates go to college. We believe that part of our success is due to the way we deploy technologies in our schools.”

The IT environment at LWSD includes 13,000 HP personal and portable computers managed from a central data center. The data center includes 75 HP ProLiant servers running Windows Server® 2003 and Windows Server 2008 operating systems. The district maintains a dedicated 10-gigabit fiber optic network and 100 wireless access points. LWSD provides one computer and presentation station for every teacher, and at least one computer for every four students in the classroom. Additional classroom equipment includes interactive whiteboards, video projectors, document cameras, and wireless microphones.

Since the mid-1990s, LWSD has standardized its client computers on Windows® operating systems, and in recent years has been particularly satisfied with the reliable performance of the Windows XP Professional operating system. However, the district’s IT department continually keeps up with improvements that newer Microsoft infrastructure software offers, and LWSD believes in supporting education through advanced technologies. The district is particularly interested in improvements that help centralize and streamline IT management and strengthen security, and it eagerly looks for opportunities to deploy them.

Solution

In early 2007, LWSD began evaluating the Windows Vista® Business operating system. Impressed with the software, the district decided to test it in the production environment as part of an already planned upgrade of the hardware that teachers use. “We wanted our new presentation and teacher stations to use the same operating system,” says Dr. Vaille. “The question was whether to continue using Windows XP or move forward with Windows Vista. Our technical staff recommended upgrading to Windows Vista because it offers enhanced security, better network management, and more flexible control over individual computers.”

LWSD initially installed Windows Vista on the computers of teachers and staff throughout the district who volunteered to participate in a pilot deployment. Concurrently, IT staff evaluated how Windows Vista interacted with the district’s network and Active Directory® service infrastructure. LWSD determined that Windows Vista performed well with the district’s systems, and it received positive feedback from the volunteers. With this success, the district expanded the project over several months to include 6,500 staff and student computers, coordinating deployment with new hardware purchases and with the start of the new school year.

To help with the upgrade project, LWSD worked with HP, which has been a key hardware supplier to the district for several years. Vaille says, “HP provided us with core licensing services, and—along with one of its value-added resellers—helped with onsite deployment. This included reformatting drives, setting up the computers, registering them on the network, and providing us with inventory information. As a result, we were able to focus on making sure the computers were visible to our network monitoring systems and to verify disk images. HP provided us with both substantial support and cost-effective pricing.”

The best thing about Windows Vista is that it’s transparent—it’s just there, it works, and it’s stable—and users don’t have to think about it.  Dr. John A. Vaille Chief Technology Officer Lake Washington School District

Half of the district’s older computers still run Windows XP, but with the positive results LWSD has experienced so far, it has decided to standardize on Windows Vista going forward. As the older hardware is replaced in the coming months, the district expects that all 13,000 of its client computers will soon be running Windows Vista.

Benefits

By upgrading to Windows Vista Business, LWSD continues to support a standardized, easy-to-manage, reliable IT environment that offers a positive user experience. Additionally, compared with Windows XP, the newer operating system strengthens security and simplifies network connectivity, especially for mobile users.

Supports a Standardized, Easy-to-Manage IT Environment

Based on its many years of experience, LWSD has found that standardizing on the most current Microsoft operating systems, including Windows Vista Business and Windows XP Professional, contributes to efficient IT management. For this reason, the district doesn’t support multiple third-party operating systems or versions of Windows older than Windows XP. “We don’t mix Windows, Apple, and Linux systems in our environment,” says Vaille. “We have been standardized on Windows for quite a long time and have realized long-term cost benefits. We’re continuing that focused, standardized approach with Windows Vista. In this way, we can devote more resources to the classroom and less to help-desk and technical support.”

As evidence of using IT resources more efficiently, Vaille notes that fewer personnel are required to support the district’s standardized environment. “Over time, we’ve been able to move from 50 local support sites, each with its own technician, to a centralized helpdesk with only 12 technicians.”

As another example of how Windows Vista supports an easy-to-manage environment, Vaille cites the ability of the newer operating system to run many existing Windows XP–based applications. “Whatever Microsoft is doing to support backward compatibility is working well for us. We have several specialized applications, like the one we use for tracking the individual plans of children in special education, that don’t get updated very often for new operating systems. After deploying Windows Vista, we were able to continue using these legacy products”

Offers a Positive User Experience and High Reliability

The transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista has been easier than LWSD expected, in part because the newer operating system is simple to learn, resulting in a positive user experience. “We were initially concerned that Windows Vista would be a challenge for users,” says Vaille. “However, the operating system itself has not been an issue.”

Specifically, employees readily adopted a variety of usability features—such as Sidebar gadgets and Instant Search—without asking the IT department for help. “People are figuring these features out,

People don’t think of educational applications as being ‘mission-critical,’ but they are very critical when it comes to what goes on in the classroom. That’s why the reliability of Windows Vista is an important benefit.  Dr. John A. Vaille Chief Technology Officer Lake Washington School District

using them, and not thinking of them as a challenge,” Vaille says. He also notes that the high level of usability helps employees do their jobs better: “Assessing any software comes down to how well people can do what they need to do, without the IT department having to intervene on a variety of levels. The best thing about Windows Vista is that it’s transparent—it’s just there, it works, and it’s stable—and users don’t have to think about it.”

Although its analysis of uptime for client computers is still underway, LWSD is pleased with the rarity of reported system failures, which is an indication that the operating system is performing reliably. “I’m not hearing from our support people that users are reporting stop errors or similar problems with Windows Vista,” says Vaille. “People don’t think of educational applications as being ‘mission-critical,’ but they are very critical when it comes to what goes on in the classroom. That’s why the reliability of Windows Vista is an important benefit.”

Strengthens Security

With Windows Vista, security management is simplified, because the operating system supports the district’s Active Directory–based authentication system. Group Policy has been improved in Windows Vista to include more settings and extensions that can precisely determine what the district’s employees and students can and cannot do with their computers. And Network Access Protection provides controlled access to LWSD network resources based on a particular computer’s identity and its compliance with the district’s security policies.

Summarizing the value of these improvements, Vaille says, “With the combination of Active Directory and the security features of Windows Vista, we’re able to make sure that resources and critical tools are available only to the people who are authorized to use them. Windows Vista security features are, in a word, flexible. We’re able to easily meet the policy requirements for the district in terms of protecting confidential information stored on the network, without requiring extensive IT support or third-party software. Since deploying Windows Vista, we haven’t seen any operating system–related security breaches.”

Simplifies Network Connectivity, Supports Mobile Users

LWSD is taking advantage of Windows Vista features that simplify connecting to networks and using network resources. For example, wizards guide users through network connection steps. The Network and Sharing Center helps them check connection status and troubleshoot connection problems, and Network Explorer presents an easy-to-navigate view of available computers, devices, and printers. These features are especially helpful for wireless networking, which the district plans to expand, and they complement mobility features such as improved battery-power management. The features are also easy to use, which means they save time for students and employees and require fewer IT labor hours to support.

Currently, nearly all of students and up to 300 staff use portable computers to connect to the LWSD wireless network, but Vaille sees wireless connectivity as just one small part of a much larger interactive-computing trend in education. He says, “As we move in the direction of more one-on-one interaction with students through their computers, wireless and mobile technologies like the ones supported by Windows Vista will become increasingly important. We haven’t gone in that direction until now because it requires a fundamental culture change in how people teach and an understanding of how students use mobile technologies to learn. Nevertheless, mobile applications are going to be a growing part of the way we work.”

He concludes, “Our goal was to have one client operating system that’s both technically advanced and easy to manage, and we are convinced that Windows Vista is the right standard for the future.”

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about HP products and services, visit the Web site at:
www.hp.com

For more information about Lake Washington School District products and services, call (425) 702-3200 or visit the Web site at:
www.lwsd.org

Windows Vista

Windows Vista can help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to find and use information more effectively. You will be able to support your mobile work force with better access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies to enhance corporate IT security, data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.

For more information about Windows Vista, go to:
www.microsoft.com/windowsvista 

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published February 2009