This news item was published prior to Apogee’s acquisition and subsequent rebrand to Boldyn Networks in November 2024. Learn more about the acquisition here.

Solution enables academic innovation, delivers on student demands, and ensures GLBA audit compliance

Austin, TX, Shreveport, LA – April 26, 2021 – To take its rich, nearly 200-year history of educational innovation into the future, Centenary College of Louisiana (CCL) has invested in cutting-edge campus-wide Wi-Fi to facilitate student learning, research capabilities, collaboration, and security. By expanding their 13-year partnership forResNet services with Apogee, the only managed services provider focused solely on higher education, Centenary now offers a ubiquitous, blazing fast, campus-wide wireless experience for more than 600 students, faculty, and staff. Ease of network administration and operations have improved, and the expanded partnership has assisted in some of the compliance requirements within the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), a federal law for financial institutions that applies to how higher education institutions collect, store, and use student financial records.

There are 5300 colleges and universities in the United States. Centenary College is the 43rd oldest. Founded in 1825 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church, it is a private liberal arts college committed to the belief that higher education will equip one to be a better person: more informed, more productive, more contributing to the nation and to society.

“The rise of blended learning, the explosion of devices and video streaming, along with the need to drive innovation to ensure student success, convinced us that the upgrade of our Wi-Fi network to every corner of campus was of utmost priority,” said Dr. Christopher Holoman, President of Centenary College. “We also wanted to stay ahead of GBLA requirements to ensure the protection of sensitive student personal and financial information, and to provide cybersecurity that assures a safe college experience for our students and their families.”

Doing all this with Centenary’s small IT staff would have been a tall task, so the school decided to expand its partnership with Apogee to deliver the new solutions. Apogee now delivers campus-wide managed network services, providing Centenary with internet connectivity, reliability, performance, IT service and support, and financial predictability. Additionally, the partnership has enabled Centenary to put the policies in place to tackle GBLA audit requirements head-on.

Centenary’s Managed Campus Network

You’ll find internet everywhere you go at Centenary. The 600-student campus, located in Shreveport, LA, is awash in bandwidth, thanks to the recently installed state-of-the-art, high-speed wireless network. Apogee includes guaranteed service levels that provide unmatched reliability.

Centenary’s new Wi-Fi network will provide blended learning opportunities for students to connect to live lectures remotely and view recorded lecture material online. It will foster increased collaboration between peers and teachers for better student outcomes and higher student satisfaction ratings. It will also allow students to stream their favorite movies and shows during their downtime.

Apogee’s Managed Campus solution is also addressing many of the GLBA audit focus points. From network segmentation to network access control, Apogee’s solution along with Centenary’s IT team has been able to put policies in place and freed up the Centenary IT team to meet the compliance requirements.

The new managed campus network provides a predictable funding model, comprehensive support, SLA-driven performance metrics, and regular equipment refreshes to ensure the network is always up-to-date and modernized. By eliminating the upfront capital and time commitment needed for a typical campus wide refresh, the IT team can focus all time and attention tackling tasks and projects like GLBA compliance and other strategic initiatives.

“Back in 2009, Centenary made a strategic decision to outsource and partnered with Apogee to build a solid foundation to support bandwidth needs well into the future with ResNet for on-campus living environments. Apogee was selected for their technical expertise, cost savings and availability of a dedicated team to ensure efficient installation, support, and expansion,” said Scott Merritt, Director of Information Services. “Now, more than 13 years later, this partnership continues to thrive, and helps us ensure an exceptional student, faculty, and staff experience. Now we have a solid path for our entire campus to study, teach, and work efficiently in a time when a trusted network is non-negotiable.”

According to Matt Loecke, Executive Vice President of Sales at Apogee, “The foundation of our business is helping colleges and universities harness technology to drive their strategic initiatives for improved outcomes. We are deeply grateful for our long-term partnership with Centenary College and are proud to be able to provide the most advanced networking technologies and support, giving them the optimum IT environment and educational experiences that they deserve.”

About Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College of Louisiana is a private, four-year arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest chartered liberal arts college west of the Mississippi River and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). For more information visit www.centenary.edu.