Northgate Managed Services Named as Preferred Supplier for the Education Network Northern Ireland Contract

Published by Nuala Mcdowell for Northgate Managed Services in Education and also in Communities

NI Schools to benefit from Innovative Private Education Cloud

Newtownabbey based Northgate Managed Services (Northgate) has further cemented its reputation as one of the UK’s leading providers of ICT services by being named as Classroom 2000’s (C2k) preferred supplier for the new ‘Education Network Northern Ireland’ (ENNI) contract.  The news was announced today at BETT 2012, Europe’s largest education ICT event in London.

The five year contract will see Northgate design, implement and manage a completely new and innovative Private Cloud environment for all schools in NI, providing secure access to resources online, 24 x 7 from a wide range of devices.  The new ICT investment will bring schools the benefits of cloud computing while ensuring students and teachers are secure online.  The new Education Cloud provides the ability to scale computing resources to meet the needs of schools both today and in the future.    Schools will access a range of applications and educational resources through Northgate’s My-School learning portal.

The continued investment in ICT in schools ensures that every student can attain the vital ICT skills needed for today’s technology driven workplace and support the continued growth in NIs vibrant technology sector.

The new infrastructure will also offer greater device connectivity - allowing teachers and students to gain access to the network and resources securely via personal devices such as smart phones, IPads, tablet PCs and laptops.  Broadband provision will be improved with schools being provided with up to 200Mb.  This contract will see Northgate take responsibility for the Wide Area Network, Local Area Network and Telecoms.

Commenting on the award of preferred bidder status, Andy Ross, Chief Executive, Northgate Managed Services said “This is a tremendous achievement for the company and is one that clearly positions Northgate as one of the UK’s leading providers of ICT services for schools.  Our previous experience in this sector both in NI and across GB has enabled us to propose a solution that we feel proactively and innovatively offers the end user a more intuitive system and one that is based on the very best in Cloud technology.

“Achieving preferred supplier status is also of great significance for the local economy. Securing technology jobs in NI can only be viewed as a positive boost for Northern Ireland.”

Jimmy Stewart, Director, C2k said, “When preparing the ENNI contract specification we were very clear that it should recognise the educational requirements of NI schools, have the ability to deliver technology driven learning environments and for its solution to be innovatively designed and developed in a manner that provided flexibility – Northgate’s submission offered us this and much more.   

“The award for preferred supplier status to Northgate is as of a result of the company’s innovative response and of its extensive experience in the sector.  Northgate has continuously demonstrated excellence in the education services it has developed and has a highly talented and dedicated team in place.  I look forward to working with Northgate in the coming months and to deploying the ENNI infrastructure in schools across NI.”