Networking & Wireless | News

Texas School District Launches Fiber-Optic WAN Plan

• By Leila Meyer
• 02/28/13

Lovejoy Independent School District (Lovejoy ISD), located north of Dallas, TX, will implement a new fiber-optic wide area network (WAN), which will provide a minimum of one Gigabit of communications bandwidth to each site in the district.

The district selected Unite Private Networks (UPN) as the network provider and has signed a multi-year agreement with the company. UPN provides high-bandwidth, fiber-based communications networks and related services to schools, government, and other enterprise customers in 18 states. UPN has an existing fiber network throughout the Dallas metropolitan area, to which Lovejoy ISD's fiber-optic WAN will connect.

"Enhancement and expansion of the Lovejoy ISD network will enable us to provide a stable, robust network for our staff and students across the district," said Tina Phillips, director of technology for the district, in a prepared statement.

Jason Adkins, senior vice president of sales at UPN, described the fiber-optic WAN as a key component of the district's network expansion and said that the dedicated fiber to each building site will provide the district with unlimited bandwidth and growth potential in the future.

"The nearly unlimited bandwidth provided by fiber-optic facilities allows our services to easily and quickly expand as the needs of customers grow over time," said Kevin Anderson, CEO of UPN, in a prepared statement.

Lovejoy Independent School District is located in central Collin County and serves more than 3,400 students in three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.

UPN will begin construction on the district's new fiber-optic network immediately and projects the project will be complete within six months.