FRESNO, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. today announced that AT&T has signed a new contract with Fresno Unified School District (USD), the fourth-largest school district in the state of California with more than 80,000 students in 88 schools throughout the district. Under the terms of the five-year contract, AT&T will serve as the primary service provider for Fresno USD, delivering AT&T OPT-E-MAN(R) service, a switched Ethernet service to connect each of the district's 65 elementary schools, 18 middle schools, 10 high schools, and related administrative and educational sites within the same metropolitan area.
Fresno USD will experience an increase in network capacity and speed at approximately 50 times faster and 100 times the bandwidth than the district's current network. In addition, Fresno USD will be able to transmit data, such as student records and off-campus lectures to any classroom within the district.
The new converged network, backed by AT&T's IP-based network, will provide secure Internet access for students and will allow teachers to incorporate advanced teaching techniques into their daily curriculum. As a result, teachers will be able to provide an enhanced learning experience for their students and can keep parents up-to-date on each student's performance using a password-protected electronic portfolio filing system on the district's network. This application will allow teachers to strategically meet the individual needs of their students and help families monitor and assist in their child's education. Students will also have the ability to access homework assignments and other learning materials from home.
The expanded bandwidth and added redundancy will also enable the district to launch advanced technologies and bandwidth-intensive applications in the future, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), essentially providing the capability to transmit data from anywhere at anytime.
"With more than 100 schools and administration buildings and more than 75,000 students, we needed a provider capable of linking all of our sites on a converged network platform to enhance our educational structure," said Michael E. Hanson, superintendent of Fresno Unified School District. "The network solution provided by AT&T will allow us to connect our schools at a cost- effective rate and help us provide our students, teachers, and faculty with the latest advancements in technology and e-learning applications."
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About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is a premier communications holding company in the United States and around the world, with operating subsidiaries providing services under the AT&T brand. AT&T is the recognized world leader in providing IP-based communications services to businesses and the U.S. leader in providing wireless, high speed Internet access, local and long distance voice, and directory publishing and advertising through its Yellow Pages and YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations. As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding video entertainment offerings to include such next-generation television services as AT&T U-verse(SM) TV. Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/ .
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