Infrastructure

A vast array of routers, switches, data ports and wi-fi access points that allow connectivity of a variety of devices so they may communicate with each other and with our school district students, parents and staff.

A large collection of computers called servers support a variety of technical operations. Some servers host websites or web applications that allow users to accomplish specific tasks. Some servers manage our email and telephone communications.

District infrastructure systems are allowed to connect to external systems using high-speed fiber optic cable connected to the world-wide Internet. Other telecommunications systems such as LTE cellular systems and sophisticated VoIP telephone systems allow our systems and users to reach outside resources.

Access to district systems is facilitated by our identity management systems that determine if a particular patron of one of our systems is authorized to access it. With many core systems being hosted “in the cloud” on external web servers, identity management has become a critical component to be sure only authorized people gain access to the resources available.

Many district operations are now hosted on external web-enabled systems “in the cloud”. Cloud hosting often lowers the total cost of using a system since the provider is able to host many similar organizations on one set of computer hardware rather than each organization needing to have their own equipment.

The infrastructure team provides project management to develop infrastructure systems. This often requires interfacing with people throughout the Renton School District organization to determine feature requirements so systems can be designed and built to those specifications.