N.J. District Installs 3Com ATM Network

  • 11/01/97

Washington Township, a fast-growing K-12 district in New Jersey's Delaware Valley, has installed an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network from 3Com to connect classrooms and offices to each other and to the Internet. Officials chose CoreBuilder 7000 High-Function ATM switches because they support large voice, video and data applications.

Completed in September, the $1.3 million network serves 10,000 students and 800 faculty members in 12 schools. The ATM network delivers videos and CD-ROM titles to a teaching workstation, TV monitor and up to 12 desktop computers in every classroom as well as to 35 multimedia labs across the district. As a result, students at any site can access programs such as Sunburst's Type to Learn, Davidson & Associates' Math Blaster, Discovery's Beyond Planet Earth and Microsoft Office.

"Using 3Com's architecture, we're offering students advanced curricula in everything from basic computer literacy to business, science, reading, mathematics, the arts and more," said Thomas Flemming, assistant superintendent. Administrative staff, meanwhile, utilize the network to streamline procedures such as sharing students' health records, attendance records and grades. Flemming helped bring to fruition a 1996 referendum budgeting $50 million for new schools, school renovations and new educational technologies.

Besides CoreBuilder switches, the district purchased 3Com 10Base-T and 10/100Base-T Network Interface Cards (NICs) for Macs and PCs, and ATMLink PCI 155 Mbps NICs to provide ATM links to servers. Washington Township also installed 3Com's Transcend network management application, which proactively manages and monitors the entire network from a single desktop console.

"3Com gave us a suite of price/performance features that let each school access the networked resources of every other school for the first time," said Jim Dubois, the district's director of technical services. "The company also provided expert engineers who tirelessly and effectively served us during implementation." 3Com, Santa Clara, CA, (800) NET-3COM, www.3Com.com.

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