Hybrid Workforce
Enable teams with superior performance no matter the environment.
Loyola School
A reliable, easily installed, cost-effective network that’s also simple to maintain
K-12 Education/Primary Education 
MR - Meraki WirelessHighlights
- Independent New York City college prep high school with 200 students and 45 faculty
- In-house IT team easily installed wireless network, deployed APs across 3 buildings
- Meraki solution was one-third the cost of the nearest vendor
Overview
James Richroath, Director of Information Services at Loyola School, wanted to deploy a wireless network across the three imposing concrete and steel campus buildings in the middle of Manhattan. However, to get the administration on board, the solution had to be cost-effective, easy to maintain, and something that the two-person IT team could install and configure.
“The previous network was very expensive and really never worked very well,” Richroath said.
Loyola School evaluated solutions from Meru, Aruba, and Meraki. Meraki was chosen for its cloud-based architecture, its pricing, and its ease of use and configuration.
“With Meraki, we did not have to worry about WAP controllers, which would have upped the expense initially and every year thereafter in terms of maintenance and replacement options,” Richroath said.
“Besides that, Meraki was one-third the cost of the nearest vendor.”
Loyola School deployed 20 Meraki MR14 dual-radio 802.11n access points (APs) across its classrooms and 2 MR58 triple-radio 802.11n outdoor APs for the gymnasium and outdoor space.
“Our in-house IT team did 100% of the installation and configuration,” Richroath said. He describes the installation process as “a pleasure.”
Richroath says he appreciates the great coverage with no outages as well as the reporting tools. The users are delighted as well.
Meraki was the right choice for our environment. It fit our three requirements: low-price, low-maintenance and reliable.
James Richroath
Director of Information Services
“The students were very excited to be able to bring in their laptops and use them in the cafeteria and library, so they love it,” he said. “The faculty were excited to be able to bring their laptops with them and do work when they have proctoring or are covering for another teacher.”
Overall, Richroath says, Meraki was the “right choice” for Loyola. “It fit our three requirements: low-price, low-maintenance, and reliable.”
Meraki was the right choice for our environment. It fit our three requirements: low-price, low-maintenance and reliable.