Hardware

Hardware is the physical backbone of district technology. Information Services supports the district's equipment at every level. From a network switch to a keyboard and mouse, I.S. is responsible for the deployment, tracking, and maintenance of the district's computer technology equipment.

U-46's network consists of a district-level wide area network which allows for communication between every building in the district, as well as internet access. Each school and office building has it's own internal local area network. These networks consist of servers, routers, switches, wireless access points or routers, data cables, and more.

The network serves the over 10,000 workstations within the district. These workstations are located in administrative offices, classrooms, school labs, and even the school cafeterias.  In several buildings, workstations also include wireless laptop labs on mobile carts, allowing computers to come to the classrooms. Other networked devices include office and lab printers, thin client appliances, environmental controls, security applicances and video technology.

Most district workstations connect to equipment that enhances their functionality and use. Peripherals including printers, scanners, digital cameras, palm devices, etc. are all a part of the technological infrastructure which I.S. supports to keep the district functioning and to address the needs of our students and staff.