Wesley College in Melbourne, Australia Chooses Wi-Fi Clocks

Overview

Type of project: Synchronized clock system implementation

American Time Solution: Wi-Fi network clocks

Enrollment: 3,100 students and more than 1,300 staff

Wesley College is an independent co-educational ECLC to Year 12 school in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1866, the College is one of the largest K-12 schools in Australia with three Melbourne metropolitan campuses located at St Kilda Road, Glen Waverley and Elsternwick as well as four regional Victorian sites and a Studio School based in the Kimberley in North West Western Australia.

Challenge

To keep its large student and staff population on time and moving efficiently throughout its buildings, Wesley College sought a synchronized time solution for its classrooms. However, the school had difficulty finding networked analog clocks specifically, as most clock providers only offered digital clocks.

Wesley College worked with ControlAir, a consultant and integrator for building control systems, to find a reliable time technology solution to fit its needs.

Solution

During an initial internet search of providers, ControlAir found American Time. The company was impressed by American Time’s catalog of analog solutions, as well as the free option to add a school’s logo to the clock face.

Within a few weeks after the initial outreach, ControlAir had partnered with a local distributor, Synchronised Time Australia, and received a sample analog clock to review. It had everything their customer, Wesley College, wanted: A simple, elegant and timeless design; a helpful and easy-to-understand manual to help troubleshoot any issues; and an intuitive online portal for accessing all of the clocks’ settings.

“American Time’s pricing was very competitive for the level of support and the quality of products offered,” said Simon Smith, senior consultant at ControlAir (Aust.) P/L. “We will continue to use American Time Systems products, and always recommend them to clients.”

Wesley College initially ordered 70 Wi-Fi Network clocks and chose to include its logo on the clocks at no extra charge.

Wi-Fi network clocks provide a complete, synchronized time system for a building or campus. Each clock can be pre-configured to automatically join the existing Wi-Fi network as soon as it is hung on the wall. There is minimal capital investment, as Wi-Fi clocks don’t require a master controller, wires, license fees or cables. Just a wireless router will keep all of the clocks on the same, precise time and automatically update for daylight saving time (if applicable).

Results

Due to the successful implementation and performance of the initial clock order, Wesley College now has 206 American Time Wi-Fi Network clocks throughout its campuses.

The hands-off nature of the clocks allows Wesley staff to refocus their time and increase productivity. “The automatic change to DST was a key feature for Wesley College,” explained Nick Hill, managing director and national sales manager at Synchronised Time Australia. “It saves an immense amount of time across all campuses because they can avoid changing every clock manually.”

In working with American Time and the other partners to bring this project to life, Smith notes: “We couldn’t ask for more from the clocks themselves, and it’s been a pleasure dealing with Synchronised Time Australia as a distributor for American Time Systems.”