The Government of Andorra and Andorra Telecom have improved the capacity and speed of the National Educational Network of Andorra (XENA) in Andorra (Pyrenees), which unites a total of 35 school buildings in the country and ensures a connection to the Internet.
The main change has been the extension of the fiber optic line to the outside that has gone from 1 gigabyte per second (Gbps) to 10 gigabytes. To allow the increase in speed, it was necessary to update the hardware of the Internet connection network formed by the network routers and last generation filters and firewalls.
The other great line of work has been the extension of Xena access lines of 100 megabytes per second (Mpbs) to 1 gigabyte of the seven school equipment with more traffic. These are the Andorran schools of the Second Teaching of Santa Coloma, Encamp and Ordino; the Andorran School of First Teaching of Santa Coloma; the Lycée Compte de Foix in Andorra la Vella, the Aixovall Training Center and the Andorran High School School. Also, in this case, it was necessary to renew the hardware of both Andorra Telecom and the Xena network.
In the rest of the schools, the capacity of the line has also increased by three, going from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps. Although the network was sufficient in these schools, it was expanded in anticipation of the continued increase in demand for Internet services in schools.
The Minister of Education and Higher Education, Eric Jover, and the general director of Andorra Telecom, Jordi Nadal, visited this morning the Aixovall Professional Training center to learn first-hand the characteristics of the new network and to see the impressions from teachers and students.
The minister stressed that the importance of maintaining the lines of communication in line with the growing demand for Internet connection, taking into account that the educational technology services provided by the Ministry to the whole of the educational community of Andorra are, increasingly, based on the cloud. Eric Jover also emphasized that this enlargement is leading the educational networks of the countries around us.
For its part, the general director of Andorra Telecom has emphasized that the use of new technologies and connectivity have become an essential part of its operation and that Andorra Telecom has the public responsibility to favor the implementation of ICT in society in general and in particular among students. Jordi Nadal also stressed that the XENA network is not only a tool to promote access to the Internet in educational centers but also a channel to promote interrelation and exchange between different schools and systems.
The National Educational Network of Andorra (XENA) is an intranet that has a total of twenty three access points from the educational centers and an access from the CPD of the Ministry, located in Aixovall, which guarantee the connection between schools and the people who make up the educational community; and a connection to the Internet.
The network provides daily service to 11,000 students and 1,820 teachers from the three educational systems.
The IT department of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education is made up of 2,486 desktop computers and 3,500 wireless devices connect daily to school hours on the XENA Wi-Fi network.
See also Andorra primary education
See also Andorra University
