Global Connection 2000 HOMEPAGE
an education-business partnership of the Pekin Public Schools with Continental Cable, IBM, and Sprint

 
 
 

Goals

Topology

Network Design

Applications

Costs / Benefits

GC 2000 Team

Global Connection 2000 is a dissemination partnership including the Pekin Public Schools, Continental Cablevision, IBM and Sprint. Demonstrating the utility of information infrastructure to improve educational quality and the efficacy of a school-based community-wide network in promoting life-long learning and collaboration, GC2000's design capitalizes on lightwave and ATM technologies in connecting the home to the school, the schools to one another, each to the resources of the community, and all to the world beyond. 

Consistent with the District's Strategic and Technology Plans and addressing goals of the U.S. Department of Education's Goals 2000 initiative and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Information Infrastructure initiative, GC2000 was designed to reach the 32,000 life-long learners of the greater Pekin area. 

Planned as a 21st Century network technology demonstration site, Global Connection 2000 calls for:
  • the construction of an OC3 WAN backbone is built upon lightwave and ATM technology to maximize bandwidth and to optimize costs well into the 21st-century; 
  • delivery of dedicated, bi-directional 25Mbs ATM to the students desktop and, planned, 10Mbs to the students home; 
  • integration of voice, video, and data across a single network to the classroom and office whether it be across the hall or across town, in the school or in the home; 
  • deployment of MPEGII-quality video compression and streaming products for teleconferencing and video distribution applications; 
  • expansion of voice telephony to and introduction of enhanced service options for the classroom teacher; 
  • investment preservation and integration of existing token-ring and ethernet LAN's allowing clients to "talk" across the room, around the town, or throughout the world; 
  • investment preservation and support for multiple platforms including MS/DOS-based, MAC/OS-based, UNIX-based, OS/400-based, and RISC-based technologies; and, 
  • the installation of a robust community gateway to the Internet for both Pekin and area schools and community members. 


    • Global Connection 2000 is an 'enabling' initiative designed to move school administrative and instructional data, voice, and high quality, interactive video and home and business requirements both across the hall or the town. Grounded in the District's Strategic and Technology Plans, Global Connection 2000 is a framework of how networks can be utilized to support restructuring efforts; to improve teaching and learning; improve communication and collaboration within and amongst a community of life-long learners; and, share in the use of a community supported resource. 
For more information on Global Connections 2000, E-mail pekin@pekin.net