Networking & Wireless

Ramsey School District Upgrades to Private Fiber Network

• By Leila Meyer
• 04/21/16

Ramsey School District in New Jersey has upgraded to a 100 percent fiber network to support several bandwidth-intensive education initiatives.

The district has standardized on Google Apps for Education, which requires a reliable Internet connection for students and teachers to access online resources. Ramsey SD also deployed more than 2,000 iPads recently and offers a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program, two initiatives that require robust Wi-Fi access. And the Online PARCC assessments require a strong, reliable Internet connection.

Ramsey School District has been a customer of Lightpath Ethernet-based communication services for 15 years, and decided to stick with  the same service provider for this upgrade. The district implemented Lightpath's managed Private Fiber Service, with 10 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) connections between several key locations, including the middle and high school, and 1 Gbps connections to each of the district's three elementary schools.

The network upgrade doubles the district's Internet bandwidth and increases connection speeds between key locations by 10 times, according to a news release. Lightpath is part of the New Jersey Middlesex Regional Education Services Commission (MRESC) purchasing cooperative, which aims to coordinate cost-efficient purchasing opportunities for educational institutions. Ramsey School District took advantage of this opportunity to save money on the network upgrade.

Ryan Kenny, director of Ramsey School District's technology department, said he anticipates that the private fiber network will serve the district's increasing bandwidth needs in the years to come. "While a 1G Internet connection serves our needs today, we'll likely have to double or triple that in just the next couple of years," he said in a prepared statement.