"Microsoft was unable to help so we did a lot of 'googling' and [the result] is certainly being [made public]," she said.

After completing the 11-month project and with the network fully functional since July last year, Meadows said DET has experienced a minimum 20 percent saving against cabling and 50 percent due to open source software.

DET may be betting its business on Linux, but don't expect students to be using the operating system solely for education purposes.

"I like to think this will lead to more open source adoption, but at central office there is quite some resistance," Meadows said. "Although we are very much a Microsoft shop, I'm slowly witnessing more open source applications included on the desktop and becoming part of the SOE. There's no question [open source] will be used in future."

Meadows cited school technicians unskilled in Linux as a barrier to desktop adoption.