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Gateshead IT provider Advantex seals £500k of education work

Gateshead IT firm Advantex Network Solutions Ltd has revealed it has secured £500,000 worth of new work from schools.

The move will see the company, which delivers advanced technologies into school classrooms, expand it education customer base as it works with dozens of schools over the next three years to meet their IT requirements.

This will involve providing advice and technical expertise alongside enterprise grade networks, superfast broadband and supporting IT services, boosting the work Advantex undertakes in the education sector by over 30%.

The Follingsby Park-based firm, which has a £5m turnover and employs 60 people, has won contracts to provide managed IT service packages to Green Lane Primary School in Middlesbrough as well as Hylton Castle and Rickleton Primary schools in Sunderland.

Elsewhere, work is already underway at Middleborough’s Mandale Mill School and Durham Sixth Form Centre where new digital technologies will provide the platform to improve the pupil e-Learning experience. The firm also maintains a CCTV system at Bath Spa University.

Hylton Castle’s business manager, Christina Holland, said: “We are delighted with the services Advantex are providing. These will significantly raise the quality of our teaching and learning resources.

“It’s easier to have one supplier managing the entire system and we will benefit from a level of support that means we get commercial level services at public sector education level costs – a win-win.”

The latest success comes as Advantex sees growth across all its operations - its telephony business has increased in the last 12 months by 25% - as customers continue to invest in new technologies, networks and broadband services to reduce costs and boost operational efficiency.

John Prescott, Advantex’s head of IT, added: “Education is evolving at breakneck speed, propelled forward by the white heat of futuristic technologies that deliver enhanced e-Learning experiences and teaching resources.

“Many education providers have suffered from poor investment by their maintainers over the years but are now benefiting from the wider range of added value service we offer.

“These save time for those with responsibility for IT in schools and is shows how we work from the foundations upwards, offering sound advice that is critical to implementing major investments in IT and communications.”