Belgium has the world’s highest export per capita, and is the number one exporter of diamonds. Its capital houses the European Commission, European Parliament and NATO, and only Washington comes higher in global political importance. It’s no surprise that it has a well-developed education sector too. Public and private schools are financed with government funds, and there’s free, compulsory education for all children aged 6 to 18.
But even in this favourable environment, ICT teams in schools and colleges have to balance innovation with efficiency. Visitatie Mariakerke has an impressive track record of using technology – it’s even achieved Belgium’s ICT School of the Year Award. When Bart Billiet, Mariakerke’s IT Administrator, wanted to improve manageability and flexibility, and cut carbon emissions, he engaged with Dell to help design a solution based on Hyper-V and PowerEdge R710 servers.
The benefits started right away – from simpler maintenance through live server migrations, to major reductions in downtime and annual energy savings of €1,374. With more time for strategic projects and a flexible server platform, Bart set up a website development environment for students. Virtual desktops are next on the list. With the right mix of invention and efficiency, Visitatie Mariakereke is truly living up to its reputation as a technology frontrunner.
Read more about the Visitatie Mariakereke story.