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Federal E-Rate-Funded Wireless Wide Area Network Deployment Connecting Schools Across Three Islands
Project Description
SDI delivered a wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect the Islands' 51 schools and administrative locations to deliver instructional video conferencing and internet access for over 16,000 students and staff.
Goals
The Islands required the turnkey delivery and on-going maintenance of a fully redundant WAN, as well as instructional video conferencing; cabling; wireless access points; network electronics, and maintenance of district servers. SDI network professionals were challenged to design a highly reliable network that could spans over 43 miles of ocean to link across each of the three Islands. The network had to be able to withstand the adverse environment of the Islands, including rain fade conditions and mountainous terrain.
Solution/Services
- Program management, including minority subcontractor management and federal ERATE compliance
- WAN design, including industry-leading network and routing device specification
- Installation of all network infrastructure and devices, including WAN components; video conferencing; cabling at schools; wireless access points; network electronics; and servers
- Training on newly installed equipment
- 24x7x365 proactive network monitoring, including monthly utilization reporting
- Maintenance and support for all network equipment
- Performance governed by strict SLAs
Result
The initial network - designed with built-in layers of redundancy to mitigate interference, allowing maximum throughput, further enhanced with digital error correction - was installed on July 1, 2008, and a fully redundant network was completed on October 31, 2008. SDI consistently meets the Islands' requirement of 99.9 percent uptime, allowing classrooms, schools and administrative support locations to communicate with each other and over the Internet efficiently.
