Case Study: Chelmsford Public Schools achieves stable, secure BYOD and bullet-proof Wi-Fi with Extreme Networks

K-12 School District Seamlessly Supports BYOD, Cloud, and Virtualization Initiatives with Extreme Network Products

Chelmsford Public Schools, a K‑12 district in Chelmsford, MA serving about 6,050 students, faculty and staff across nine locations, needed to replace aging Cisco infrastructure to support BYOD, cloud and virtualization initiatives, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and PARCC readiness. With just a two‑person IT team, the district required a secure, reliable and easy‑to‑manage wired and wireless network — and selected Extreme Networks (S‑Series, B‑ & G‑Series, IdentiFi APs/controllers, OneFabric Control Center, NetSight and Mobile IAM) to meet those needs.

Extreme Networks implemented a OneFabric architecture with S‑Series core switches, IdentiFi wireless and NetSight centralized management, raising some links from 1 Gb to 10 Gb and simplifying administration for the two‑person IT staff. The deployment delivered “bullet‑proof” Wi‑Fi and stable, secure BYOD support (over 1,000 personal devices), enabled cloud access for roughly 800 staff, provided reliable coverage for about 5,250 students across nine sites, and let the small IT team manage dozens of apps more efficiently — supporting plans for 3,600 simultaneous PARCC tests and measurable productivity gains.

Chelmsford Public Schools

Bill O’Rourke

Network Manager