Affordably Link a District of Schools
The Challenge:
Both urban and rural school districts benefit from sharing educational resources and school operational systems. Applications such as student databases, email, and records often reside only on a local PC hard drive. Attempting to connect disparate schools through dial-up or DSL doesn’t offer the bandwidth for database applications, or the accessibility and ease-of-use required for actual use. Leased lines would address these issues, but would add unreasonable cost – and may not be available in many locations. The cost of trenching fiber can run into the millions.
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The Solution:
Wireless metropolitan area networks are a perfect solution for linking many schools in a region. Because wireless systems
can be installed simply and affordably relative to fiber optics, a service provider could afford to offer an inexpensive MAN
to school districts at a monthly fee. Or, the school district could opt to own the infrastructure itself. Either way, wireless
provides a viable solution for improving communications and sharing resources between many schools.
As an added benefit, the district could offer low or no-cost Internet access to households in the immediate vicinity to the
schools. Using an inexpensive multipoint network or standard Wi-Fi technology, broadband access can be fanned out from
the school.