Empowered by All-Optical Network, Knowledge Spreads Far and Wide! AINOPOL Helps Guiyang Lufeng Middle School Build an All-Optical Smart Campus

Located on Baihua Road in the southern part of Guiyang, a time-honored ancient county, Lufeng Middle School sits in the core area of the densely populated old town. Originating from Lufeng Academy founded during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, it boasts a scholarly cultural heritage stretching back nearly 250 years, and was officially established as a county-administered junior high school in 2014. Covering an area of merely 18 mu, the school fulfills the academic dreams of more than 3,500 students, ranking among the junior high schools in Guiyang urban area with the highest school-running density and profoundest cultural heritage.

As a century-old institution inheriting profound academy culture, Lufeng Middle School has always taken the lead amid the wave of digital education. With the comprehensive rollout of diversified campus services including smart classrooms, campus IPTV, standardized examination room monitoring, campus security surveillance and electronic class nameplates, the network bearing pressure keeps growing under high-density school-running scenarios. In view of the campus features of compact space, difficult wiring construction and high demand for concurrent multi-service operation in the old town, AINOPOL customized an integrated all-optical networking solution tailored for Lufeng Middle School. It enables all campus services to be transmitted over a single optical fiber, builds a streamlined optical network with 10G backbone network and gigabit access to terminals, and injects brand-new digital vitality into this century-old academy.

I. Multiple Challenges Faced by Traditional Networks in High-Density School-running Scenarios

Nestled in the heart of the old town with compact campus layout and dense student population, the school gathers over 3,500 students within limited space, setting far stricter requirements on network concurrent bearing capacity, full coverage density and operational stability than ordinary schools. After long-term high-load operation, the original network architecture has exposed various drawbacks that fail to meet the needs of modern education.

Insufficient capacity of core devices leads to frequent lag in concurrent multi-service operation

Restricted by limited performance of original core network equipment, severe bandwidth congestion often occurs during peak hours when it carries multiple services such as teaching & office work, security monitoring and campus broadcasting. Buffering delays and disconnections frequently happen in interactive teaching activities and high-definition video playback in smart classrooms, which directly undermines teaching efficiency.

Difficult wiring renovation and high expansion costs in old campuses

Most campus buildings were constructed years ago with severely aging traditional copper cable lines. Moreover, the compact campus layout makes large-scale rewiring difficult and time-consuming, inevitably disturbing regular teaching order. New wiring construction is required whenever a new service is added. Repeated trenching and cable laying are not only uneconomical, but also damage the campus environment.

Inadequate wireless coverage results in poor experience for high-density device access

A large number of smart terminals connect to the network simultaneously during class breaks and lunch breaks in teaching buildings where more than 3,500 students gather. The original wireless APs are insufficient in quantity and limited in single-device bearing capacity, making network congestion and disconnections common in peak hours, which cannot satisfy teachers and students’ demands for mobile teaching and online learning.

Independent construction of separate networks brings complicated operation and management

The teaching network, security network and campus TV network operate independently with separate equipment and dedicated maintenance teams respectively. It leads to difficult fault location, slow emergency response and heavy daily workload for campus network administrators, making unified centralized management impossible.

With the successive launch of new campus applications such as IPTV systems, standardized examination room monitoring and smart classrooms, the traditional three-layer network architecture can no longer cope with growing service demands.

Therefore, Lufeng Middle School is in urgent need of an all-optical network solution capable of supporting multi-service transmission, featuring simple wiring, flexible capacity expansion and easy maintenance to push forward digital campus upgrading.

II. Streamlined All-Optical Architecture Suits Old Campus Renovation, One Optical Network Supports All Services

In response to the core demands of Lufeng Middle School’s old campus including compact space, high student density and integrated multi-service operation, AINOPOL adopts PON passive optical network technology to build a streamlined architecture solution that realizes all-service bearing via one single optical fiber. It simplifies the traditional three-layer network into a two-layer structure and greatly cuts down intermediate active devices, which perfectly fits the renovation demands of old campuses.

Core Layer: Build High-Performance Management Hub

Deploy AINOPOL ZH-AC500 (Ultra) egress router in the equipment room as the overall network gateway to deliver high-performance external network access and comprehensive security protection. Equipped with ZH-CS5528X-SI 24-port 10G switches to set up backbone links and ensure high-speed internal network data forwarding.

Install core ZH-4E 4-port OLT devices to centrally manage all optical network terminals across the campus. It connects optical splitters in all buildings via optical fibers to achieve full campus optical signal coverage. Meanwhile, arrange ZH-H200 (Ultra) TV servers to provide high-definition campus IPTV services for the whole school, and match with ZH-4O floor gateways to support multimedia services such as campus voice calls and video conferences.

Access Layer: Realize Full-Scenario Optical Terminal Coverage

Deploy 70 sets of AINOPOL ZH-F4125W optical APs in large quantities within teaching areas to deliver gigabit wireless coverage in every classroom and functional room. A single optical fiber supports simultaneous access of multiple devices including Wi-Fi systems, monitoring equipment, campus broadcasting systems and electronic class nameplates, eliminating the need for separate wiring.

Arrange 20 sets of ZH-F4 4-port ONU devices in administrative office areas and functional rooms to provide multi-channel gigabit wired network access, satisfying wired networking demands of office computers, printers, teaching terminals and other office facilities.

Extreme Architecture Simplification for Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement

This all-optical solution optimizes the traditional "core-aggregation-access" three-layer network into a simplified "core-access" two-layer network structure. Passive optical splitters are fully adopted to replace active aggregation switches in the middle layer, which require no power supply or daily maintenance, cutting the overall network failure rate by over 70%.

Optical cables are slim and lightweight, capable of replacing multiple copper cables. Large-scale trenching and rewiring are unnecessary during old campus renovation, shortening the construction period by 60% and minimizing disruptions to regular teaching activities. With a service life of up to 25 years, optical backbone lines can remain unchanged when adding new services in the future, with only terminal devices needing replacement, thus effectively safeguarding long-term investment benefits.

III. Procurement List of Core Project Equipment & Overall Investment Budget

All core devices adopted in the all-optical smart campus renovation project of Lufeng Middle School are products of AINOPOL, accompanied by original manufacturer standard warranty and exclusive technical support services. Smooth upgrading solutions are available for future business expansion and campus extension of the school. The detailed list of purchased equipment is as follows:

1 set of Egress Router (Model: ZH-AC500 (Ultra)), unit price: RMB 31,852, total: RMB 31,852

1 set of TV Server (Model: ZH-H200 (Ultra)), unit price: RMB 47,817, total: RMB 47,817

1 set of 24-Port Switch (Model: ZH-CS5528X-SI), unit price: RMB 8,712, total: RMB 8,712

1 set of 4-Port OLT (Model: ZH-4E), unit price: RMB 23,500, total: RMB 23,500

1 set of Floor Gateway (Model: ZH-4O), unit price: RMB 5,445, total: RMB 5,445

70 sets of Optical AP (Model: ZH-F4125W), unit price: RMB 1,618, total: RMB 113,260

20 sets of 4-Port ONU (Model: ZH-F4), unit price: RMB 1,494, total: RMB 29,880

The total investment of all core hardware equipment for this project is RMB 260,466.

IV. Century-old Academy Embarks on Digital New Journey, All-Optical Network Empowers High-quality Education Development

After the implementation of AINOPOL all-optical network solution, the digital education environment of this time-honored school has been comprehensively upgraded, and the network application experience under high-density school-running scenarios has been fundamentally optimized.

Integrated Multi-service Bearing for Efficient Sharing of Teaching Resources

One unified optical network supports all services including campus internet access, security monitoring, campus IPTV, IP broadcasting and voice communication. It realizes data interconnection and resource sharing among various systems and eliminates information isolation caused by separated independent networks in the past. The campus TV system can cover every classroom, enabling one-click push of high-quality educational video resources and greatly improving the utilization efficiency of teaching resources.

Full-coverage High-density Wireless Network Ensures Stable Concurrent Access

With 70 optical APs deployed across the whole campus, seamless wireless signal coverage is realized in all teaching and office areas, and each optical AP is capable of supporting massive concurrent terminal access. Even during peak hours when more than 3,500 students get online simultaneously, the network remains stable and smooth. Interactive smart classroom teaching, online assessment and mobile learning are no longer affected by network lag, which greatly improves teaching and learning experience for teachers and students.

Simplified O&M Reduces Costs and Alleviates Network Management Pressure

The passive intermediate nodes adopted in the all-optical architecture effectively cut down equipment failure rates. The unified network management platform realizes visualized management of all network devices and automatic early warning & positioning of faults, raising operation and maintenance efficiency by over 80%. Network administrators no longer need to maintain multiple independent network systems separately, and daily management workload is largely reduced.

Smooth Capacity Expansion Caters to Long-term Development and Safeguards Long-term Investment

Once deployed, the backbone optical fiber network can serve for a long term. When launching new applications such as smart classrooms, live recording and broadcasting systems and VR teaching in the future, only matching optical terminals need to be added without rewiring. It features low expansion cost and fast construction progress, fully meeting the long-term digital development demands of the school.

Inheriting the profound cultural heritage of ancient Lufeng Academy and embracing the digital vitality of all-optical smart campus, a single optical fiber connects century-old educational traditions with modern educational technologies. Taking this all-optical network renovation as a breakthrough, Lufeng Middle School has set an excellent example for digital upgrading of old campuses under high-density school-running conditions.

In the future, relying on stable and high-efficiency all-optical network infrastructure, AINOPOL will further deepen the application of smart education solutions, helping more schools carry forward scholarly culture and shine brighter in the digital era.