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Team Number: 062 School Name: Ft. Sumner Municipal School Area of Science: Project Title: Designing a Cost Effective Network Project Abstract: http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/97.98/abstracts/062.html Interim Report: http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/97.98/interims/062.html Final Report: http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/97.98/finalreports/062/finalreport.html
We made the determination not to include the high school gym and the bus barn in this networking plan at this time. This left us with a total of 6 buildings we would be networking. We decided the buildings with classrooms would be better served with the networking plan.
A group of students went out and physically measured each building, the classrooms and measurements between the buildings. Another group counted the number of computers and their location in each building. This group of students also noted what type of hardware was available at each computer so we could see whether or not it was networkable.
After the building measurements and hardware specifications were gathered, drawings were made to scale of each building and the distances between them. Computers were placed in the scale drawings to indicate their placement in the buildings and classrooms.
Next, we researched what type of hardware would be needed to physically network these buildings and computers. The determination was made that we needed to use cat 5 cable and 10/100 base T-hubs plus various servers. After the type of hardware was decided on, we calculated lengths, etc. of cabling needed to get the job done.
When all of this preparatory work was completed, we contacted a technician who advised us of the possibility of figuring a total cost for each classroom drop and we were able to come up with an approximate cost for the entire networking job. With our calculations and the technicians suggestions, we made a presentation to our local school board and reported our findings.
The school board was very interested in our project and is looking forward to the completion of our calculations. We need to finish this project by incorporating computer calculations to confirm or reject our total cost projection.