Libraries

Warren Newport Public Library

Warren Newport Public Library, located in Gurnee, Illinois, serves residents of Warren and Newport Townships. They're proud of being “A Library for the 21st Century” and support that assertion by offering their patrons the best technology for their needs.

Kevin Getty is the head of technology there. Along with one assistant, he provides support for sixteen servers with 120 devices attached, thirty-five of which are public work stations. They were getting bogged down by patrons in the library downloading larger and larger files, plus patrons on the outside of the library accessing catalogs and other services.

Getty started searching for a software solution. His ideal was a one-step solution.

He found NetEqualizer and once he had it in his hands: ” it was up and running within twenty minutes. Immediately we saw a difference,” said Getty.

Getty admits it took a day to get used to what he NetEqualizer was doing. The patrons were no longer getting first-served service, but they were getting best served service. Heavy users were being slowed down so all users could flow optimally. NetEqualizer also gave him more control and understanding of the usage of his network, so he could see heavy users and identify problems he never could before, and all without having to actively manage it to get the results.

Getty said: “In a second I can look at the logs to see if there's a problem. The NetEqualizer helps us trouble shoot problems on the network. It's been really great. Solutions like NetEqualizer help me do my job better.”

Henderson Library

The residents of Henderson, Nevada were loving their library system to death. With five sites and 200 computers, Sean Hill, Information Technology Manager of Henderson District Public Libraries, had a challenge to keep the networks flowing.

“We've had a policy of trying to be as open as possible,” said Sean.

But, “as the Internet got richer, the programs got larger,” says Hill. File sharing and downloads, on-line games and systems that allow an application to open lots of ports to download started to plague the Henderson network. “There were times of the day you couldn't use the thing.”

They stumbled on the NetEqualizer. Hill assumed that for the low price the results would be limited. But he was very pleasantly surprised. “It immediately made it better. People were able to reliably surf the Internet,” said Hill.

It's been a while now and the Internet and its use continues to grow. They are in the process of upgrading their connection to a 10 Meg line. But they will keep the NetEqualizer.

“I know however much bandwidth I throw at them they'll use it. Someone will take it.” Hill believes there will always be a need at Henderson Library for some bandwidth management. He's considering putting a NetEqualizer at each of his sites once the bandwidth is increased.

Hill says: ”We've grown so much and we've gotten by with the NetEqualizer. Without the NetEqualizer our network doesn't hardly work at all. It's kept us going when we didn't have funds to do anything else.”

...