News

Fiber could be 'magic WAN' for speed

By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Thursday, September 23, 2004 11:06 AM EDT

Dowagiac Union Schools Board of Education heard a presentation this week on the district's need for a WAN, or "wide area network," to provide faster computer connections between buildings - particularly before the new middle school opens next fall.

The district currently has 56kbs connections from every building except Union High.

It already had to add DSL at Central and the bus garage and maintenance buildings, but these connections only give access to the Internet - not to each other.

A WAN would increase network bandwidth and, hence, speed, eliminate recurring fees for leased lines and increase the abilities of Dowagiac's network in terms of reliable connections to the Internet, e-mail, ability to use streaming throughout the school system, library services, food services and voice, data and video capabilities.

Centralizing file servers, backup of critical information and network management would also decrease ongoing operational costs, said Dwayne A. Henderson, Fanning/Howey Associates educational technology designer and project manager, and Randy Gross, Dowagiac technology coordinator.

They cited faster connections, better service throughout the district, lower operational costs and keeping pace with future growth, such as centralized video mail, as WAN benefits.

They investigated several options, evaluated current and future needs and compared costs to conclude that "fiber is the obvious choice."

"Fiber will provide the greatest speeds and greatest flexibility for the Dowagiac Union Schools," Henderson said.

"We're finding that with younger staff, they're obviously more technologically literate and very excited," Superintendent Larry Crandall said. "I've been around long enough, I can remember 10 years ago when very few teachers even used computers in their classrooms. It doesn't happen overnight, but it can never happen" if schools aren't equipped with technological advancements.

"At McKinley, for instance, they're putting in a lab, but it's going to be somewhat stifled in what it can do," Gross said. "There's just no bandwidth to get out to the Internet. If you have three computers trying to get out at once, it's all over. You're going nowhere, slowly."

"Why do you think we only had two bidders?" school board member Bill Lawrence asked the administration.

"We invited 27 and we had approximately nine people at the pre-bid meeting," Henderson said. "After they drove the routes, I don't know why they didn't bid. Sometimes people get afraid of a project going on this long. The problem is, we have to be complete when the new building opens. What's going to be the cost associated with cabling, fiber today and throughout the next six months?

"Both bids are reputable firms and I've done work with both of them. They're both doing projects for Fanning-Howey," from Northville to Ohio. "They're very large firms. When they buy products, they buy in bulk so they can hold those prices for a longer period of time. We also invited a local contractor. They decided not to bid because they said they were busy with projects at that time."

"This process for establishing a Wide Area Network is not clean as far as how many days it's going to take," he added. "The contractor actually has to go through and submit the drawings for the routes to all the pole carriers and they have to drive the routes with the people who own the poles."

Lawrence also inquired if such a project would furnish Dowagiac with "the latest and the greatest."

"It's similar to what Verizon is putting on the poles," he said. Fiber "allows the greatest bandwidth you can possibly have today. Fiber, once it's in place, I've got a network that's been in place for 15+ years - as long as the poles don't get knocked down or a squirrel chews through it or something like that."

What happens if there is a break in the line? asked board member Larry Seurynck. "Does someone on our staff climb the pole or do we contract that?"

"Basically, the first two years after a project is complete, it will be the contractor's responsibility," Henderson responded. "If a tree falls, they don't take care of the cost associated with it, they'll come out, look at it and (locate) the damage and here's the cost associated to fix that. There are so many unforeseens, from my experience you don't want to retain somebody because there's cost associated with that. Normally, the way it's done, when something is damaged, the response time normally is four to five hours. You can get somebody out here and repair the damage within an eight-hour day. There's a limited amount of down time associated with that."

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