Investing in Education
Funding and Financing Your Education Upgrades and Investments with Cisco
Investing in Education
Funding and Financing Your Education Upgrades and Investments with Cisco
The future of education is in your hands.
Leverage public funding and Cisco financing offers to reduce costs, drive innovation and improve quality of education.
How are you modernizing your school, college, or university IT infrastructure?
Education is facing a rate of innovation seldom—if ever—before seen, including upheaval to traditional funding and financing mechanisms. As classes move to digital and hybrid models and campuses become increasingly flexible, education institutions need to invest in the technology to enable today and empower tomorrow.
At Cisco, we are committed to building an inclusive future of education as your technology partner. A key part of that partnership is our funding and financing offers that are available for education institutions. The following e-book provides a look at four key funding and financing programs and showcases success stories of institutions globally who have taken advantage of these programs. Let’s reimagine education together.
We can help.
Explore Cisco Funding and Financing Programs.
Discover Cisco Capital
Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Discover Cisco Capital
Cisco Capital supports education institutions as you work to deliver collaborative teaching and learning experiences. As technology requirements evolve and demand for online resources increases, it’s more important than ever before to create seamless access to learning which is both interactive and engaging.
Why Cisco Capital?
Our flexible financing solutions help you get the latest Cisco technology with no upfront costs and predictable payments spread over time. We can help you gain access to additional funding, enabling you to preserve your budget for other high priority initiatives. Cisco Capital enables you to invest in the technology you need now to create secure and productive learning environments and attract new students in a competitive and challenging landscape.
Making Cutting-Edge the Status Quo
Tabor College | The Netherlands
Tabor College, a secondary school in the Netherlands, adopted cutting-edge technology as the status quo and future-proofed their network by upgrading critical elements of their infrastructure every three years.
Flexible financing from Cisco Capital enabled the school to acquire the network hardware, software, and services they needed with no upfront costs, a predictable payment schedule, and a plan for the future. These flexible payment solutions can help schools of any size access the latest Cisco technology by eliminating lump-sum payments and spreading their investment over time.
“Whenever administrators and IT teams from other schools visit Tabor, they are stunned by our network and ask how we pulled it off. ‘We can't afford it,’ they often say. That's when I talk about our deal with Cisco Capital. I explain the benefits of predictable cost structures and help them to do the math. It is a smarter way to get the equipment you need and stay ahead of the curve.”
Raymond van den Berg, Head of IT at Tabor College
Changing lives through education technology
University of North Carolina at Pembroke | United States
The University of North Carolina at Pembroke has one of the most diverse campuses in the southeastern United States, with a large number of students attending remotely. With Cisco, they built a secure end-to-end infrastructure to help students overcome geographic and economic barriers. The University took advantage of an enterprise agreement financing structure that is funded with assistance from Cisco Capital.
“We’ve recently committed to a security enterprise agreement, which assures cutting-edge security capabilities at a predictable cost. We won’t have to prioritize our security investments; we’re able to think strategically about other elements of our architecture knowing that the security technology that protects it all is up to date.”
Nancy Crouch, Associate Vice Chancellor for Technology Resources and Chief Information Officer (CIO) from 2015 to January 2019
Meeting student needs through increased connectivity
Private University in South Korea
A private, mid-sized South Korean university with a campus network serving more than 15,000 students across 5 colleges had slow, outdated wireless APs and was struggling to cope with an increase in demand. Complaints from students were increasing and the infrastructure was unable to host online, interactive classes.
The university updated their network to meet student requirements to host online, interactive classes. Cisco and a partner worked to develop an interest-free, 3-year financing package to implement the latest Meraki wireless solution that could cover the whole campus in a single installation.
The Result
The university got the Cisco and Meraki technology they needed without having to go through multiple installation projects. They have seen increased student satisfaction and can now offer reliable connectivity and secure online classes.
Update Infrastructure with Cisco Refresh
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Update Infrastructure with Cisco Refresh
Cisco Refresh (-RF Certified Remanufactured Equipment) is a smart solution that education IT managers can use to enable new service capabilities, while making the most of their limited and often uncertain budgets. These fully warrantied and licensed products are eligible for Cisco services and Smart Net Total Care support and can be ordered just like you would new equipment, directly from our authorized Partners and Distributors. Cisco Refresh offers a large inventory—from latest generation to end-of-sale models—which are available for immediate shipment.
Why Cisco Refresh for Education?
Get the best prices for your updates by using Cisco Refresh. Cisco Refresh supports your green initiatives, giving you the quality products you expect with a fully sustainable low carbon footprint. Instead of turning to the risky grey market, buy with the confidence that you are purchasing the best and most secure Cisco technology. And, just like with new equipment, Cisco Capital is ready to fund Cisco Refresh purchases.
Learn more about Certified Remanufactured Equipment.
Meeting student needs through increased connectivity
Kentucky Community & Technical College System
United States
Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS) serves over 116,000 enrollments at 16 colleges located on 70+ campuses across Kentucky. In the later part of FY20, KCTCS wanted to purchase managed services through Gold-level Partner Core BTS, but the cost of new Cisco would not work with their limited IT budget.
By leveraging Cisco Refresh (-RF certified remanufactured equipment) as an alternative, KCTCS was able to acquire 900 2960X switches and 50 ISR4431/K9-RF).
Innovate with Country Digital Acceleration
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Innovate with Country Digital Acceleration
Through the Country Digital Acceleration program, Cisco has a seat at the table in 37 countries around the world—encompassing 60% of the world’s population and 75% of global GDP. We have credibility, relevance and trust with the highest levels of government leadership at national, state and local levels, and now we can step forward and say “let us be your partner” as they expand stimulus initiatives. By also making strategic investments with academia and industry, CDA is responsive to the needs of countries, and as those needs change, CDA and Cisco are well-positioned to quickly pivot and serve.
Why CDA?
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, we demonstrated our agility by soliciting, vetting, selecting, funding and executing seventy projects in 25 countries within the first 10 days of the global shutdown. The very nature of stimulus funding is that it’s done rapidly, and the CDA process can help sort through the priority areas and indicate specifically where investment makes sense—where investment is going to have the greatest impact for GDP, job creation and fostering digital inclusion for the nations’ populations. It’s a process that we have already employed in 37 countries across the Americas, EMEAR and APJC, and it helps governments and education leaders at all levels focus on the projects that can be completed in the short, medium and long term.
Building the Digital Campus of the Future
NOVA School of Business and Economics | Portugal
NOVA School of Business and Economics wanted to build a new campus from scratch to attract top talent from around the world, become one of the top 10 European universities, and provide the best experience to its students, university staff, and teachers. After receiving a €16 million loan from the EU to construct a new SBE campus in Carcavelos, the university initiated a massive funding drive to attract €51 million in donations from corporations and alumni. Cisco CDA partnered with NOVA to design the “Digital Campus of the Future”—a blueprint for a fully digital university environment.
The CDA program documented all of the digital architecture that the new campus could deliver and expanded NOVA’s understanding of what was possible with a fully digital university environment. Construction finished in 2018 and the campus opened for 2019 students.
The Result
With Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture, NOVA can provide a modern, connected experience to students, staff, and lecturers, including: secure Wi-Fi across campus, online classroom bookings, collaboration facilities where guest lecturers can deliver lectures digitally, and an Experience Hub to promote collaboration between students, researchers and companies.
Shaping the Future of AI
University College London | United Kingdom
University College London wanted to significantly enhance its AI Strategy by creating new AI technologies and advising on the use of AI in science, industry and society with the goal to help make AI a positive reality for all. In 2018, Cisco provided investment from the Country Digital Acceleration program and Cisco Research Centre to shape the vision of progressive research and training across higher education researchers. In 2019, the physical center, combining research, study, and innovation was officially launched. This center provides researchers the opportunity to use real data to solve real problems, bringing non-consumer facing use cases—including industrial, enterprise, manufacturing, and public sector—to the table.
Training New IT Talent
Cisco Partner Incubator Program | Netherlands
Cisco partners were experiencing difficulties recruiting new IT-talent. Country Digital Acceleration partnered with the Cisco Networking Academy to help our partners to find and hire new talent so that they could focus on growing their businesses.
Country Digital Acceleration created an incubator program in the Netherlands to connect talented NetAcad students to the channel partners by offering internships in combination with a Certification program. Learning Partner Fast Lane provided the certification program (CCNA) at a discounted price for the students in the incubator program. With this initiative, partners have been able to hire new recruits in a very tight labor market without paying high recruitment fees. Simultaneously, students can jump-start their careers by obtaining CCNA & CCNP certification at the very beginning of their journey.
Explore Opportunities with E-Rate
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Explore Opportunities with Public Funding
Starting in 2021, a new five-year category 2 E-rate budget cycle is beginning in the United States. With $8 billion in E-Rate funding set to become available during this cycle, learn how Cisco can help K-12 schools and libraries make the most of E-Rate.
Why Cisco?
Provide your teachers and students with a reliable, robust experience that bridges the physical and virtual classroom. Cisco is your committed partner and is dedicated to helping you optimize E-Rate funding to modernize your network infrastructure to improve internet access and security for students, faculty and staff.
Empowering Digital Learning with E-Rate
Reading School District | United States
Reading School District leveraged E-Rate funding to empower digital learning. Located in southeastern Pennsylvania, Reading School District, is the fourth largest school district in the state with 13 elementary schools, four middle schools, one intermediate high school, and one senior high school, with additional special use schools and administrative locations, totaling 25 buildings. The district is committed to providing reliable wireless coverage, secure network access, and physical safety for students and teachers with the classroom engagement and technology resources they deserve.
With over 1,400 access points providing district-wide wireless coverage, security appliances aggregating six gigabits of traffic, switches making network troubleshooting a breeze, mobile-device management securing 300 school iPads, and security cameras allowing for simplified video management, Reading School District’s full-stack Meraki solution provides an amazing network experience for students, teachers, and the IT team.
“Thanks to the vastly superior management capabilities and the minimal amount of time spent managing, troubleshooting, or configuring Meraki hardware, we have more time that we can dedicate to making our classrooms 21st century learning centers.”
C.R. Hiestand, Network and Systems Administrator
