Zero-Downtime IT Upgrade at Xi’an International School

Introduction

Founded nearly 30 years ago, Xi’an International School (XIS) has served the international community with a strong commitment to small-scale, community-driven education. While this model fostered close student–teacher engagement, IT investments had long lagged behind.

By the time the school relocated to its current campus, its consumer-grade Wi-Fi was unable to support the demands of cloud learning, interactive lessons, and real-time parent communication. The challenge was clear: modernize the IT backbone to meet 21st-century educational needs — without interrupting the school’s strict schedule working between classroom times as rooms are available.

Business Requirements

• Minimal Downtime: upgrades had to be completed while a classroom was available, with zero disruption to teaching.
• High Performance: resolve concurrency limits and slow throughput, ensuring seamless video streaming and online learning.
• Future Scalability: build a modular IT infrastructure ready for expansion and additional services like access control and surveillance.

Why UniFi?

• License-free model reduces ongoing costs compared to legacy systems.
• Single-pane-of-glass management allows IT administrators to monitor and manage the entire campus from one intuitive dashboard.
• Scalable ecosystem supports future integration of UniFi Protect (surveillance) and UniFi Access (door control).

Deployment Highlights

Staged Migration with Zero Downtime

• New UniFi network was built in parallel with the old system.
• Once a floor was complete, switched off the old system and removed old equipment.
• All cutovers completed when classroom was available,ensuring zero class interruptions.

Campus-Wide Wi-Fi

• 54 UniFi APs installed: 36 U6 Pro + 18 U6+.
• Coverage validated with heatmaps across Buildings
• Segregated SSIDs for students, staff, and guests.

Switching & Backbone

• Upgraded switching included 3 Dream Machine Pros, 13 Pro-series switches, and 10G uplinks.
• UniFi NVR installed to prepare for Protect integration.

Guest Access & Remote Work

• Temporary guest Wi-Fi easily provisioned for parents, vendors, and events.
• Staff can securely access school systems remotely via UniFi Identity App, proven effective even for overseas travel and remote work.

Looking Ahead

• Access Control Integration: deploy UniFi Access for staff/visitor entry.
• Surveillance Expansion: add UniFi Protect cameras across the campus.
• Cross-Building Connectivity: strengthen inter-building network capacity and redundancy.

Key Metrics

• Users Supported: 150+ daily (students, teachers, staff)
• Wi-Fi Deployment: 36 UniFi U6 Pro + 18 UniFi U6+
• Switching & Gateway: 3 Dream Machine Pros + 13 UniFi Pro/Pro Max switches
• Availability: ≥ 99.9% uptime, with zero class minutes lost during rollout
• Management Impact: Password changes and network adjustments now completed remotely via UniFi dashboard, saving significant IT time