Case Study: St. Vrain Valley School District achieves district-wide, high-capacity Wi‑Fi for 21st-century learning with RUCKUS Networks

Huge School District Takes Students and Teachers into an Untethered 21st Century with Ruckus Wireless

St. Vrain Valley School District, serving roughly 27,000 students across 45 K–12 schools north of Denver, needed to deliver a true 21st‑century learning experience but was hampered by a patchwork wireless infrastructure, growing numbers of Wi‑Fi devices, limited IT staff and tight budgets. The district required high‑capacity, stable dual‑band 802.11n Wi‑Fi that could support hundreds of concurrent clients, multimedia streaming, seamless roaming and simple centralized management.

St. Vrain partnered with 3dB Networks to deploy 650+ Ruckus ZoneFlex dual‑band APs with 34 ZoneDirector controllers and FlexMaster management, plus point‑to‑point 5GHz links. The rollout delivered rock‑solid client connectivity (stress tests showed 78 simultaneous devices on a single AP), centralized administration, AD integration, support for IPTV and high‑density classrooms, and reduced recurring bandwidth costs—enabling broader digital learning across the district.

St. Vrain Valley School District

Joe McBreen

Chief Information Officer, St. Vrain Valley School District