Case Study: Burton and South Derbyshire College achieves reliable, cloud-managed campus Wi‑Fi and eliminates dedicated network staff with Cisco Meraki

Improving higher education Wi-Fi network while eliminating need for dedicated staff

Burton and South Derbyshire College, which serves more than 11,000 students across three campuses, needed a modern, easy‑to‑manage Wi‑Fi and network solution to support widespread mobile device use and reduce administrative overhead. After evaluating multiple vendors with their partner Jade Communications, the college selected Cisco Meraki for its cloud‑managed Wireless LAN and Security & SD‑WAN capabilities, including Meraki cloud‑managed APs and MX security appliances.

Cisco Meraki deployed roughly 100 Meraki APs and 3 MX security appliances across the main Lichfield Street campus and two satellite sites, using the Meraki Dashboard to configure three SSIDs (corporate, BSDC and guest), custom branded splash pages, scheduled guest access, and site‑to‑site VPN. The result: reliable campus Wi‑Fi with positive user feedback, automatic firmware upgrades, and a network that requires no dedicated staff—managed as needed by three team members—serving 11,000+ students across three campuses.

Burton and South Derbyshire College

Ian Robinson

Network & IT Manager