Providing adequate internet connectivity to all schools is a key challenge for any education authority’s e-Learning plans. They need:
- Cost-effective bandwidth: With very large objects such as videos or operating system updates in their gigabytes, the cost of supplying enough bandwidth can prove to be extremely high.
- Fast access to content: If the connection feels slow, students quickly become disengaged putting the benefits of e-Learning at risk. Speed of access to web content in the classroom can determine the success of implementation.*
Optimisation features in EDUGATEBOX directly address both concerns:
- Caching stores popular content locally so that all but the first request does not use the internet connection at all. This dramatically reduces both the bandwidth needed and the speed of content delivery, saving time for students and saving money for authorities.
- Traffic Shaping puts authorities in control of how bandwidth is used. Internet access can be limited based on the content domain, on which student requested it, or even by the time of day (e.g. avoid congestion from software updates by having EDUGATEBOX only download outside school hours), keeping lesson times free from congestion.
- Content Filtering lets schools completely block requests that consume too much bandwidth or are otherwise unnecessary, freeing up bandwidth for the content that matters.
Combining these features together lets education authorities introduce sophisticated content to schools, even where connection capacity is limited or restricted.