Supporting Education Networks with TP-Link & Purdicom

Posted at 09:50h in TP-Link by Oliver Walker | 14th May 2026

Schools, colleges and universities are under increasing pressure to support hybrid learning, growing device numbers, tighter safeguarding requirements and always-on connectivity, all while managing limited IT budgets and resources.

Following our recent education webinar hosted in partnership with TP-Link UK, Ben Bayly, Education Business Development Manager at TP-Link, joined Jon Harrison, Major Account Manager at Purdicom, to discuss how educational organisations can modernise their connectivity while remaining cost-effective and future-ready.

The session explored the growing challenges faced by the education sector and highlighted how TP-Link’s Omada networking and VIGI surveillance solutions are helping institutions create smarter, safer, and more connected learning environments.

The Growing Demand on Education Networks

Today’s educational institutions rely heavily on digital tools to support teaching, learning, and administration.

Students and staff expect seamless connectivity across classrooms, lecture halls, libraries, accommodation blocks and communal areas, with little tolerance for downtime or poor performance.

At the same time, IT teams are managing increasing device numbers, bandwidth requirements, and security concerns with often limited budgets and resources.

Reliable wireless connectivity is no longer simply a convenience. It is now essential for:

Interactive and hybrid learning
Cloud-based educational applications
Student collaboration tools
Video conferencing and streaming
Online assessments and exams
IoT and smart campus technologies
Secure safeguarding and surveillance systems

Educational organisations therefore need networking solutions that are scalable, centrally managed, secure, and designed to support the next generation of digital learning.

Why Wi-Fi 7 Matters for Education

As schools and universities continue investing in digital learning, wireless infrastructure must keep pace with growing performance demands. Wi-Fi 7 is quickly becoming the preferred standard for modern school and university deployments. With the UK education sector increasingly focused on future-ready infrastructure, institutions are now prioritising wireless solutions capable of supporting higher device density, lower latency, and greater network efficiency.

Wi-Fi 7 introduces significant improvements over previous wireless generations, including:

Higher throughput for bandwidth-intensive learning applications
Lower latency for real-time collaboration and video learning
Improved performance in high-density classroom environments
Enhanced multi-user capacity across large campuses
Better support for AI, AR/VR, and future digital learning technologies
Greater long-term infrastructure scalability

For schools investing in long-term digital transformation strategies, Wi-Fi 7 provides the performance and resilience needed to support evolving educational demands for years to come.

Why TP-Link UK for Education?

TP-Link has become a trusted networking provider for education thanks to its ability to deliver enterprise-grade performance at a highly competitive price point.

Through its Omada Software Defined Networking (SDN) platform and VIGI surveillance range, TP-Link offers a complete ecosystem designed to simplify infrastructure management while improving network performance and campus security.

For schools and universities looking to modernise their environments, TP-Link provides several key benefits:

Centralised Management

The Omada SDN platform enables IT administrators to manage access points, switches, gateways, and security devices from a single interface.

This centralised visibility significantly reduces administration time while making troubleshooting and monitoring more efficient. Whether managing a single school site or multiple campuses, IT teams can maintain full control over the network remotely through cloud-based management.

Scalability for Growing Campuses

Education environments are constantly changing, with growing student populations and increasing digital demands. TP-Link solutions are designed to scale easily, allowing organisations to expand wireless coverage and network capacity without redesigning infrastructure entirely.

Enterprise Features with Cost Efficiency

Budget pressures remain one of the biggest challenges across the education sector. TP-Link helps bridge the gap between affordability and enterprise-grade functionality by delivering advanced Wi-Fi 7 performance, seamless roaming, intelligent traffic management, VLAN support, and centralised cloud management in a cost-effective solution.

Improved Security and Safeguarding

Security remains a critical priority for schools and universities. From protecting sensitive student data to ensuring physical campus safety, organisations require solutions that support both cyber security and surveillance requirements.

This is where TP-Link’s VIGI range adds significant value.

Smarter Campus Security with VIGI

As safeguarding requirements continue to increase across education, surveillance technology plays a critical role in maintaining safe learning environments.

TP-Link’s VIGI range provides professional-grade surveillance solutions designed for schools, academies, colleges, and universities looking for dependable monitoring systems that are simple to manage and cost-effective to deploy.

VIGI IP Cameras

VIGI network cameras offer high-definition video monitoring with intelligent features including: