Mercersburg Academy Upgrades to 500 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet Line
Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania
has replaced its 100 megabit-per-second (Mbps) Ethernet network with a new
service that provides download speeds up to five times faster to give students
and faculty faster access to online resources and better Internet performance
from anywhere on campus.
Mercersburg Academy is a private, co-ed college preparatory boarding school
located on a 300-acre campus with 30 school buildings and seven student
dormitories. The school's 530 students and faculty use tablets for
communication, education and entertainment. As many as 600 to 700 tablets and
other mobile devices were competing for network access at any given moment, and
the existing 100 Mbps network could no longer serve the demand.
The school upgraded to Comcast Business
Ethernet, which provides the school with a 500 Mbps Ethernet dedicated
Internet line. According to information on the company's site, the service
connects from an Ethernet virtual connection (EVC) at the school to a Comcast
Internet point-of-presence (POP) router to provide a "highly secure, dedicated
connection" between the school's local area network (LAN) and the public
Internet. The school also implemented Comcast Business TV for all
of its classrooms and residences.
"Our students can now download online productivity apps, access educational
videos, and watch movies from streaming services right from their dorm rooms
during their free time without experiencing any buffering or caching issues,"
said Ryan Bennett, director of technology for Mercersburg Academy, in a prepared
statement.
Faculty at the school are also using the service for "faster access to
learning management systems and collaboration portals," according to a news
release from Comcast.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].