Harmony Public Schools Upgrades to Fiber -- THE Journal

Information Technology

Harmony Public Schools Upgrades to Fiber

By Leila Meyer
09/16/15

Harmony Public Schools (HPS) in Texas plans to upgrade all 46 of its campuses and the HPS Central Office to dedicated fiber optic Internet service with managed security services to provide each school with Internet access speeds of one gigabit per second (Gbps).

Harmony Public Schools are K-12 college preparatory charter schools with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Rather than being located within a single geographic district, HPS's schools are located in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and other areas of Texas. "Since we have schools located throughout the state, it's imperative that we have reliable service that is secure," said Edward Caglar, chief information officer of Harmony Public Schools, in a prepared statement.

To provide its schools and central office with high speed connectivity, HPS selected Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) service from Time Warner Cable Business Class (TWCBC). The service runs on a redundant and private end-to-end fiber network and provides HPS with symmetrical connectivity. Many Internet connections are asymmetrical, meaning they allow downloads at higher speeds than uploads. Symmetrical connectivity means both downloads and uploads can run at the same speed. Students and teachers at Harmony Public Schools will be able to use the fast connection speeds to communicate and use online educational resources.

As part of the network upgrade, HPS plans to implement TWCBC's Managed Security, which includes a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, remote access and content filtering. According to the company, its Managed Security service "helps customers proactively address security risk management rather than react to threats and vulnerabilities as they arise." Because the service is managed by TWCBC, HPS's IT staff will be able to focus more of its time on other priorities.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

Meta Introduces Stand-Alone AI App

Meta Platforms has launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.
OpenAI Launches GPT-4.1, Offering Upgrades in Coding, Context Processing, Efficiency

OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.1, offering stronger performance across software development, instruction following, and long-context comprehension.
HMH Forms Educator Council to Inform AI Tool Development

Adaptive learning company HMH has established an AI Educator Council that brings together teachers, instructional coaches and leaders from school district across the country to help shape its AI solutions.
Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot to Become Available for Teen Students

This summer, Microsoft is expanding availability of its Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot products for students aged 13 and older. Administrators will be able to grant access for students based on their institution's plans and preferences, the company announced in a blog post.