Marietta City Schools Completes Network Upgrade with Zayo -- THE Journal

Networking and Wireless

Marietta City Schools Completes Network Upgrade with Zayo

By Kerry Sullivan
09/27/11

A network upgrade designed to improve Internet connectivity and access to information for students, educators, and administrators throughout Georgia's Marietta City Schools has been successfully completed in time for the new school year.

The improved connectivity among schools in the district is intended to improve students’ and educators’ access to technology and educational resources available through the Internet, and to scale the district’s network efficiently. According to the district's website, “technology plays an integral role through the system, and all teachers receive a laptop upon hiring.”

The upgrade, completed by Zayo in July, was essential given the district’s growing need for bandwidth and the necessity to connect its central administrative office to each school. Zayo was chosen to facilitate the upgrade because of its cost-effectiveness, its singularity as one of the only providers in the area that owns its fiber assets, and its preexisting direct connections to the district’s schools.

According to a statement from Joe McCourt, vice president and general manager at Zayo, the company optimized existing network infrastructure throughout the school district and implemented an “E-Rate compliant fiber network, increasing capacity by 10 times at each site to a full gigabit.” E-rate is a program that provides discounts to assist most United States schools and libraries to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access.

Marietta City Schools comprises approximately 1,200 employees and 8,000 students at eight elementary choice schools—one of which is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) magnet; one middle school; one sixth-grade school; and one high school. In June 2008, the district became one of Georgia’s first Charter School Systems. It is also an International Baccalaureate World School district.

For more information, visit zayo.com or marietta-city.org.

About the Author

Kerry A. Sullivan is a freelance writer in based in Virginia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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