Case Study: Mount Pleasant Independent School District achieves a flexible, open, and reliable data center with Cumulus Networks' Cumulus Linux

Mount Pleasant ISD Uses Cumulus Linux to Create a Flexible, Open and Reliable Data Center

Mount Pleasant Independent School District, a K–12 system serving more than 5,500 students across eight campuses, needed to replace aging network infrastructure while ensuring high availability during district-wide testing and 24/7 access for teachers. With a small IT team, their priorities were reliability, avoiding vendor lock-in, rapid service deployment, and leveraging existing Linux skills for a straightforward rollout.

The district built an OpenStack environment running Cumulus Linux on Penguin bare-metal switches, gaining fast, expert support and improved uptime. The new open networking design eliminated vendor lock-in, made automation and service provisioning fast (services can be spun up in minutes), reduced the learning curve for staff, and is expected to deliver OpEx/CapEx savings while replacing legacy Cisco gear.

Mount Pleasant Independent School District

Noe Arzate

Director of Technology