Secondary School Network & Infrastructure Modernisation

Challenge

A large secondary school approached Cnetso with growing concerns around network reliability and performance. Their infrastructure had expanded over time without a cohesive long-term design. Core switching equipment was ageing, firewall configurations lacked consistency, and increasing bandwidth demands were exposing architectural weaknesses. While outages were not constant, instability was becoming disruptive. Teaching staff experienced intermittent slowdowns during peak periods, and administrative processes were occasionally delayed due to network congestion.

Our Solution

Cnetso conducted a full infrastructure audit, analysing switching performance, firewall policy design, segmentation standards, and resilience planning. The review identified limited redundancy, inefficient traffic routing, and insufficient separation between staff and student networks. A phased transformation programme was implemented. Core switching infrastructure was replaced, network topology redesigned, firewall policies rebuilt with enhanced security controls, and VLAN segmentation introduced to strengthen safeguarding. Centralised monitoring was integrated to enable proactive performance oversight.

Key Results

Measurable Results

• Network-related downtime reduced by over 70% within the first six months

• Average internal network speeds improved by approximately 45% during peak usage periods

• Support tickets relating to network instability fell by over 50%

• The school now operates on a resilient, scalable digital backbone that supports cloud services, online assessments, and high-density device usage with confidence