Building Better Critical Infrastructure for Higher Education

The Role of Critical Infrastructure in Higher Education

The Internet of Things (IoT) has become an important part of many industries’ critical infrastructure, but its ability to bring technology to the edge of the classroom makes it vital for higher education. It allows professors to become more efficient and provide better academic support for their students faster than ever before. While these advancements are making it easier to access and use education technology, it also presents significant challenges.

Colleges and universities require continuous, clean, and reliable power to support their IT infrastructure and ensure continuity 24/7. Even a minute without power can mean loss of internet, telecommunications, and data. This disrupts online course availability, virtual staff meetings, and online resources students need to learn. Not to mention aging physical infrastructure, rising energy costs, ever-changing regulatory requirements, and worker shortages put your education technology at an even greater risk of downtime.

Optimized critical infrastructure doesn’t just organize your education technology, it makes your entire organization more reliable. By ensuring your IT infrastructure is also running the best it can, your facility supports student success, protects its reputation, and boosts financial stability.

Challenges Affecting Higher Education Institutions

There are many obstacles the education industry faces when it comes to optimizing critical infrastructure. At Fuller Engineering Company, LLC, we understand these challenges and provide expert solutions.

Equipment Availability

Your critical infrastructure needs to be working optimally 24/7, so when it’s time to upgrade you need reliable equipment as quickly as possible to prevent downtime. As a factory-direct service provider and your local Vertiv office, we have the foresight and capacity to get the technology you need, when you need it. Our abundant inventory reaches across the country. Our technicians always have repair parts in their trucks for faster replacements during service calls. This way, you can rest easy knowing your operations won’t be down for long when it’s time to upgrade your education technology.

Cost

When it’s time to grow your critical infrastructure, you need to know you’re getting the right solutions. If you don’t, you risk having to make multiple purchases that will waste your time and money. As your local Vertiv office, we know our products inside and out. Our team of experts will talk with you to learn what your facility needs to ensure you get the perfect solution that fits your budget.

Return on Investment

Maintaining critical infrastructure is essential to improving your ROI. If your education technology isn’t working properly, students can’t achieve their goals and faculty are unable to pursue life-changing research. Every minute of slow operation and downtime is a minute of wasted potential. Our preventive maintenance, monitoring and management, and performance optimization services will discover any potential issues in your system so we can address them before they get worse. Not only will this prevent surprise downtime in the future, but it will also increase the productivity of your education technology.

How Technology is Changing the Critical Infrastructure in Higher Education

Learning with the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things has become a necessary part of education technology, but what exactly does it do? IoT connects physical devices through an online network so that data can be shared, students can get extra resources to improve their learning, and faculty have the tools they need to complete their research.

There are many ways IoT can benefit higher education, but here are the three most common:

• 24/7 Data Access
  Students need to be able to always access their coursework, no matter where they are so they can complete their higher education. IoT makes this possible by providing remote access to educational resources instead of requiring students to be on campus to learn.
• Creating “Smart Schools”
  IoT helps schools become “Smart” by creating an interactive learning environment through the use of smart boards, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and more tools. This engages students more, encouraging a deep understanding of their lessons.
• Personalized Learning Experiences
  Implementing IoT into your critical infrastructure is vital to ensuring student success. Learning programs that use IoT analyze each student’s progress and recommend extra resources and feedback to help them learn.

Encouraging Interoperability & Secure Data Transfers

Higher educational facilities often work with high schools, businesses, and professional organizations to exchange data and help students learn and grow. This starts with each organization being able to securely communicate with one another and send sensitive data online. Interoperability isn’t just a convenient part of your institution’s critical infrastructure; it is a vital one that provides many benefits:

• Fast Access to Data
  Collaborating with other organizations allows you to get the key data you need quicker than ever before. Secure data transfer allows students and faculty to access research from all over the world immediately so they can continue to learn as much as possible.
• Expanded Knowledge
  Sharing information allows everyone to develop a complete knowledge base, helping every organization improve their operations. No matter where you are, now you can communicate with experts and fellow scholars all over the world to exchange ideas.
• Improved Learning Experience
  Interoperability is meant to better the learning experience for each student. Sharing data through your IT infrastructure shows faculty where their students are thriving and where they are struggling. With this information, faculty can adjust their lesson plans to ensure all their students learning successfully.

Complying with Regulatory Environments

Critical infrastructure in the higher education industry requires strong protective measures in place to keep student and faculty data secure. Improving the physical and virtual security of your environment is essential to preserving your operations and student privacy, especially with the recent increase in cyberattacks. Aside from ransomware attacks demanding payments, institutions that have experienced a data breach will be fined up to millions of dollars for their noncompliant security measures. This is why you need a partner who understands the stringent requirements of critical infrastructure in higher education and can ensure your education technology is up to the task.

Empower Your Educational Facilities with a Partner You Can Trust

As you look to optimize your educational technology and operations, we provide all the solutions you need to keep your critical infrastructure secure and online. Our products help simplify the management and design of your IT infrastructure, turning it into a reliable system you can trust. From monitoring and management solutions to power systems to equipment storage products, Fuller Engineering Company, LLC can provide you with all the tools and services you need. Contact us to talk to one of our engineers and find the best solution for your educational facilities.