South Wales gets a glimpse of the future
By admin
School children, business leaders and ICT advisors were given a glimpse of the future this month when an innovative roadshow came to South Wales.
The state-of-the-art Network on Wheels – or NOW Van – was brought to South Wales by Capital Network Solutions (CNS). Trained members of staff were able to show visitors “tomorrow’s world today” when they boarded the 27-foot vehicle, before letting them loose to try the state-of-the-art technology out for themselves.
Around 90 Year 8 and Year 10 pupils from Bryn Hafren School in Barry even had proper school lessons on board and got to grips with equipment that until recently existed only in the realm of science fiction. They were joined by ICT teachers and other visitors to the school.
The NOW Van also called at offices in Tondu, Treforest and Barry where Business in Focus consultants, an ICT advisor from the Welsh Assembly Government and numerous visitors from the world of business saw the future unfold before them.
Sarah Edwards, Business Development Director at CNS, said: “It was a hugely successful and enjoyable event. The technology we demonstrated was the sort of thing you’d expect to see in Star Trek a few years ago but it is actually available now and in a few years time we’ll all be using it.
“Most people know that technology can make their lives and their work more productive but many are too busy to find out what’s available. The NOW Van, the brainchild of Cisco, got around that obstacle by bringing the latest technology to South Wales and demonstrating to visitors just what a difference it could make to them.”
The gadgetry on show included cutting edge convergence technology that brings voice, video and data onto one network.
“It enables email messages to be converted to voice messages, so you can receive emails via your mobile phone,” explained Sarah Edwards.
“You can reply to them too, sending a voice message back that is converted into an email – it even produces an audio file attachment. It comes into its own, for instance, when someone is driving – they get emails as voice messages through their headset and can easily reply.
“Everyone learned how to use it very quickly, especially the school pupils. We’ve worked with Bryn Hafren School for several years having installed a cutting edge Cisco network there in 2005 which has impacted on every aspect of school life, from beating truancy to encouraging healthy eating.
“The pupils were able to have proper structured lessons on board the NOW Van that fitted into their ICT curriculum and gave them an exciting insight into the future.
“And as the school is all-girls up to the sixth form, we hope we’ve prompted some of them to follow a career in this line themselves where women are still a minority.”
