Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

How can we move to network-based communication?

  • By Jaime Mendez
  • 04/01/18

Many schools rightly see network-based distributed communication—moving paging, intercom, and bells to the LAN away from separate hard-wired analog systems—as a way to increase efficiency, flexibility, safety, and even space. Replacing huge paging amps, redundant wiring, and 70-volt speakers with a server, a software interface, and a variety of flexible IP-addressable endpoints has numerous advantages. The most basic include giving office staff the power to set up different bell schedules for different zones, turn them off on the weekend, and make changes anytime with a few clicks.

Schools can also gain safety functionality they never had before: panic buttons in classrooms, silent alerts, and instant triggering of lockdowns and all-clears from the office or even a mobile device. Integrating all these methods of communication under a single platform is a big plus.

But it’s not an impulse buy. The time to move to a modern school communication platform isn’t when your current analog amp goes down. This takes planning—and not just at the individual school level.

Most districts want standardization throughout their schools. Clearly, continuing to standardize on 1960s technology is not acceptable, but making a sweeping district-wide upgrade to IP-based systems is daunting. A more realistic approach is to build the new digital standard into new construction projects, then bring older schools up to that IP-based standard over time. This ensures you’re designing for the future rather than digitizing old habits and forces a district-wide approach to daily communications and safety protocols you can implement methodically over a number of years.

It’s a big task, but very worthwhile, and fortunately there are experienced professionals to help you execute a successful plan.

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management April 2018 issue of Spaces4Learning.

About the Author

Jaime Mendez serves as architectural consultant at FrontRow. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Tomball ISD Opens New Tomball West High School

    Tomball Independent School District in Tomball, Texas, recently celebrated the official opening of Tomball West High School, the district's third comprehensive high school, with a community ribbon-cutting ceremony, according to a district news release.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.

  • Spaces4Learning Announces 2026 Product Award Winners

    Spaces4Learning has just announced the winners of the 2026 Product Awards! The award program spotlights outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers whose products or services are considered to be particularly noteworthy in their ability to enhance K–12 and higher-education learning environments.