Case Study / Portfolio Narrative
Customer Challenge
Dekalb County School District (DCSD) struggled with an outdated WAN infrastructure that limited cloud adoption, added costs, and created performance issues during critical activities such as online testing.
AT&T’s Proposed Solution
AT&T recommended a fully managed SD-WAN solution built on Fortinet to replace DCSD’s legacy WAN edge. The proposed architecture integrates seamlessly with existing fiber investments and AT&T Dedicated Ethernet (ADE), delivering:
- Scalability & Security: Fortinet’s robust firewall and SD-WAN capabilities in a unified platform.
- Application Awareness: Intelligent path selection for critical applications, ensuring testing traffic and instructional tools receive priority.
- Resilience: Health checking, load balancing, and failover across multiple WAN connections.
- Simplicity: FortiManager providing centralized, single-pane-of-glass orchestration, API integrations, and workflow automation.
Deployment Options
- Option 1: Leverage existing core switching fabric, minimizing change but retaining complexity.
- Option 2 (Recommended): Consolidate DCSD’s core switching into the Fortinet SD-WAN platform, simplifying operations and reducing costs.
Impact & Benefits
- E-Rate Category One eligible, maximizing funding availability.
- Improved application performance and reduced downtime, boosting staff and student productivity.
- Consolidation and automation leading to significant OPEX savings.
- Future-proof architecture enabling cloud adoption and device integration across schools.
