T.H.E. News Update :: March 5, 2008

News & Issues

Feature: 'Augmented' IT Supports Massive Infrastructure for Virginia District

Coordinator Tom VanDenburg's network and systems organization at Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Virginia manages about 3,900 Cisco switches, 240 routers, 7,500 wireless access points, and a multitude of servers running Windows 2003, Red Hat Linux, HP UX, and Sun Solaris for roughly 240 sites across the county. Each school in the district is wireless; operations run 24x7; and every day the network hosts around 12,000 concurrent users....

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Case Study: Bloomfield SD's Migration to Broadband and VoIP

As the IT director for Bloomfield School District in New Mexico, I faced a major challenge with our infrastructure when it came time to upgrade our network and voice systems to meet our educational and technological objectives. The district, with 10 administrative and school sites, is located in a rural area of northwestern portion of the state, which limited the alternatives available to us. Its network was based on T1 connections, and the bandwidth would not support the education initiatives of the district. It was also very expensive, costing us about $5,900 each month....

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Microsoft Expands Office Live Workspace Beta Worldwide

After nearly three months of private beta testing involving about 100,000 users, Microsoft Office Live Workspace (OLW) is being rolled out worldwide as a full public beta. Previously, participants had to be qualified by Microsoft for the beta; now, as of today, it's open to all comers who wish to create workspaces. Coinciding with the public beta, Microsoft has also revved OLW with new features and enhancements and has kicked off a sweepstakes to build awareness for the service....

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Study: The Year's Top-10 Web Application Vulnerabilities

Web applications, by far, dominate the list of application security vulnerabilities facing IT organizations. While 29 percent of vulnerabilities are attributable to network and infrastructure weaknesses, a full 71 percent are attributable to both open source and commercial Web applications, according to a report released recently by security firm Cenzic Inc., "Application Security Trend Report for Q4 2007."...

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Innovative Learning Conference 2008 Issues Call for Speakers

The Innovative Learning Conference (ILC) 2008, a new event dedicated to exploring the use of innovative technology and methodology in the K-12 education community, is seeking speaker proposals for the inaugural conference, taking place October 14-16, 2008, in San Jose, CA....

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Festival To Bring Hands-on Science to Northern California Students

In an effort to spark interest in science among elementary and middle school students--particularly girls--Sally Ride Science is holding a festival March 29 at Santa Clara University in Northern California that will feature hands-on science, workshops, and socialization opportunities for students and teachers alike....

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Chicago Adopts Gaming for After School Math Programs

As part of an initiative to extend math activities for its students into the "immersive learning" arena, Chicago Public Schools has rolled out videogames in four of its after school centers. The rollout includes algebra and pre-algebra gaming software from Tabula Digita, called DimensionM....

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Microsoft Releases System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1

Microsoft this weekend released an update to its System Center Operations Manager 2007, the company's infrastructure management solution. The final Service Pack 1 release has gone to manufacturing, and the update is also available for download online.....

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Coming Up

Find more events at THE Journal's online Conference Calendar.

THE Journal Opportunities

Share Your Best Practices

T.H.E. Journal is currently looking for the following types of articles for future issues and for our eNewsletter, T.H.E. SmartClassroom:

  • School Perspectives -- discuss a specific topic, trend, or concern about education technology.
  • Case Studies -- have you implemented technology and learned a lot from the experience? If so, share your efforts about what worked -- and what didn't.

If you have a potential article, or questions about the above topics, please e-mail [email protected]

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Featured

  • toolbox featuring a circuit-like AI symbol and containing a screwdriver, wrench, and hammer

    Microsoft Launches AI Tools for Educators

    Microsoft has introduced a variety of AI tools aimed at helping educators develop personalized learning experiences for their students, create content more efficiently, and increase student engagement.

  • stack of gold coins disintegrates into digital particles against a dark circuit-board background with glowing AI imagery

    Report: Most Organizations See No Business Return on Gen AI Investments

    Despite $30-40 billion in enterprise spending on generative AI, 95% of organizations are seeing no business return, according to a recent report out of the MIT Media Lab.

  • brass balance scale with a black rotary telephone on one side and a stack of gold coins on the other

    Supreme Court Upholds Universal Service Fund

    In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund, the primary funding source behind the E-Rate program.

  • stylized illustration of a desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone all displaying an orange AI icon

    Survey: AI Shifting from Cloud to PCs

    A recent Intel-commissioned report identifies a significant shift in AI adoption, moving away from the cloud and closer to the user. Businesses are increasingly turning to the specialized hardware of AI PCs, the survey found, recognizing their potential not just for productivity gains, but for revolutionizing IT efficiency, fortifying data security, and delivering a compelling return on investment by bringing AI capabilities directly to the edge.