1,000+ New BTO Windows 11 devices Delivered On-Price and On-Time
Riverside College, located in Widnes, Cheshire, is a prominent further education institution serving the Halton area and the broader Liverpool City Region. In June 2024, Ofsted awarded Riverside College an ‘Outstanding’ rating, reaffirming its status as one of the top-performing colleges in the country.
The college boasts state-of-the-art facilities, such as the Engineering and Construction Skills Centre, training restaurants, IT suites, and motor vehicle workshops designed to simulate real-world professional environments.
With approximately 4,000 students enrolled each year and over 500 full-time employees, Riverside College is reliant on robust IT systems to maintain exceptional learning facilities and remain compliant with modern cybersecurity and data protection requirements.
The Challenges of Windows 10 EOL
With Windows 10 End-of-Life (EOL) looming, Riverside College needed to replace over 1,000 IT devices that were not compatible with Windows 11.
Performing this refresh was essential for Riverside College to maintain cybersecurity standards, compliance, and system performance. For an educational institution required to process and securely store huge amounts of student and staff personal data (names, addresses, contact details, health information, financial information, etc.), maintaining cybersecurity resilience is essential.
Continuing to use unsupported operating systems would have left the college exposed to security vulnerabilities, potentially in breach of modern data protection standards and with potential system inefficiencies.
As a publicly funded institution, it was essential that Riverside College maximised its IT budget throughout this process and employed a future-proofed solution that would deliver value for years to come.
ebuyer’s Approach
Our business IT specialists worked closely with Riverside’s internal IT team to gain a detailed understanding of their requirements. From there, we developed a BTO solution tailored to meet their exact specifications for both student and staff devices. We promptly arranged demo units for Riverside to test – this ensured that the devices met their requirements.
To manage budgets and internal resources effectively, this project was phased across multiple years. In total, 1,150 new devices have been delivered to date – 100 units in 2023, 500 units in 2024, and 550 units in 2025.
This project was managed by Issabelle Hasselman, Education Sector Specialist, and Phil Davis, our dedicated Device Specialist. With over three decades of combined experience in delivering IT solutions for educational institutions, our team brought the technical insight and market knowledge necessary to meet the college’s objectives.
The Results
Through working with ebuyer, Riverside College has replaced its legacy Windows 10 devices with over 1,000 new Windows 11-compatible, built-to-order configurations ahead of the EOL deadline, leading to an enhanced security posture with a modern OS across their network. Thanks to ebuyer’s fast turnaround times and flexible solution delivery, Riverside College has benefited from minimal disruption, with deliveries aligned with their internal roadmaps.
Thanks to ebuyer’s exceptional relationships with the world’s leading IT vendors and manufacturers (built over 25 years in business), Riverside College had access to unbeatable pricing throughout the process, which helped them maximise their IT budget. With ongoing support and proactive account management, Riverside College now has a future-proofed solution poised to support its ongoing growth.
The Clock is Ticking
Windows 10 EOL is now less than 6 months away!
If you don’t currently have an upgrade plan, you must act now.
ebuyer’s business IT specialists are here to take the stress out of the process and help you make a smart upgrade decision. Our team can help you access unbeatable market pricing and advise on vendor/manufacturer schemes designed to maximise your IT budget.
