Huawei Helps AATVET of Ethiopia Build First Vocational Education Interconnected ICT Network

SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alage Agricultural, Technical, Vocational, and Educational Training College (AATVET), located in Addis Ababa, is affiliated with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education, and oversees Ethiopia's 331 governmental and private technology and vocational schools and training institutions. AATVET aims to increase knowledge and expertise, create jobs, reduce poverty, and promote national economic growth through vocational education and technical training.

Increasing Need for Online Video Education and Remote Training

As services such as online education and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) begin to prevail around the world, Ethiopia's vocational education is faced with many challenges. First, almost no vocational education and training institutions use ICT networks. Knowledge and skills are transmitted mainly by teachers, which makes remote education inefficient. Second, teachers in schools and institutions have different teaching abilities, making it difficult to achieve fairness in education. Third, communication with international experts cannot be implemented in a timely manner, so that schools and students find it difficult to keep pace with the world.

AATVET, however, is determined to change the status quo and deploy an advanced ICT network based on modern education and the rapid development of network communications technologies. In the first phase, AATVET planned to deploy ICT networks in 12 vocational schools to promote efficient transfer of knowledge and expertise as well as communication between schools. Every student would have access to the data center's high-quality teaching resources and obtain fair educational opportunities via online and remote education. By deploying advanced online video exchange training centers, AATVET will help teachers and students efficiently conduct knowledge and technical exchanges and interaction with international vocational institutions.

To succeed in the development of online education and enable high-quality information-based campus interconnection, it was necessary to construct a high-bandwidth, easy-to-expand network with full Wi-Fi coverage.

High-bandwidth Network Delivers Superior Services

Since AATVET required high-bandwidth services such as cloud applications, VoIP, HD video conferencing, and monitoring, Huawei proposed a high-bandwidth, agile network solution. The network architecture consists of access, aggregation, and core layers. The solution helps achieve unified network planning of office areas on campuses, simplify the traffic forwarding process, and improve network performance. At the core layer, Huawei's high-bandwidth, agile S12708 switches use Ethernet Network Processors (ENPs) and support smooth evolution from 10 GE to 40 GE or 100 GE. At the access layer, Huawei's next-generation gigabit S5720LI access switch implements gigabit-to-the-desktop. Huawei's cost-effective 802.11ac AP4030DN Access Point (AP) provides Wi-Fi coverage.