Lycée Français de Zurich

Founded in 1956, the Lycée Français de Zurich now has more than 1,000 students, from nursery school to the final year of secondary school. The school is approved by the French Ministry of Education, has an agreement with the Agence pour l’enseignement français à l’étranger and is recognised by the Department of Education of the Canton of Zurich.

From technological equipment to the use of tablets in the classroom, the LFZ is resolutely at the cutting edge of digital education.

Meanquest is one of the Lycée’s long-standing partners. In 2022, the LFZ approached Meanquest as part of an invitation to tender to modernise the network infrastructure on its main site. The replacement of existing equipment, which had reached the end of its support life, was motivated by the transition to 10 Gigabit connectivity.

The requirements for the new architecture were clear, including interoperability with the existing environment, a cloud-based approach compliant with RGPD/LPD, reporting and centralised management capabilities for optimal monitoring, and a 5-year warranty, extendable to 7 years.

Meanquest was chosen as a partner because of its recognised expertise in systems and networks, combined with a cost-competitive offer. The customer was reassured by Meanquest’s ability to help them deploy the solution.

The project roll-out was methodical, closely involving the customer at every stage to ensure a smooth transition. Preparatory sessions with the engineer in charge of the project were used to validate the viability of the offering and to select hardware in line with the LFZ’s medium-term requirements, taking into account how needs would evolve over the next 3 to 5 years (changes in strategy, building construction, etc.).

The key stages included validation of the network diagram by the customer, physical replacement of the 10 switches, configuration of the Cisco Meraki console, exhaustive testing to ensure correct operation and, finally, skills transfer to make the customer autonomous.

The strength of this project lay in the effective three-way collaboration between the customer, Meanquest and the manufacturer. By acting as an intermediary, Meanquest maintained a consistent level of information, establishing a relationship of trust between the customer and all those involved in the project. This approach not only reassured the client as to the choices made, but also strengthened the fluidity of communication throughout the process.