Information Infrastructure.
Global Connection 2000 is information infrastructure and more. It calls
for the integration of voice, video and data along a single high bandwidth
network using current and emerging technologies including fiber optics
and Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM) protocols.
The District's implementation reaches both across the hall and across
town. Global Connection 2000 achieves high bandwidth connections from the
"… home to the school, the schools to one another, each to the resources
of the community, and all to the world beyond."
21st Century Applications.
Global Connection 2000 is an information infrastructure designed to
enable today's applications technology while positioning the District for
tomorrow's.
Applications supported include those enabling the activities contained
in the District's successful U.S. Department of Education's Technology
Challenge Grant submission and unsuccessful U.S. Department of Commerce's
Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP)
grant submission. These technologies range from simple data streams to
telephone conversations to MPEGII-quality video transmissions and teleconferencing.
Investment Protection
Global Connection 2000 objectives called for the protection of the District's
considerable investment in existing infrastructure and multiple-platform
operating environments.
The District's implementation both preserves and enhances the functionality
of each. Support continues and is expanded for the District's existing
token-ring, ethernet, and TCP/IP networks with their integration onto the
ATM network. Investments in Windows/95, MS/DOS, MAC/OS, RISC-, UNIX-, and
AS/400-based operating systems is preserved and enhanced.
Management and Support Consolidation
Global Connection 2000 consolidates onto one campus and into the hands
of appropriate personnel the management and support operations of the network.
The District's implementation allows file servers to be centrally located
permitting immediate response to hardware intervention requirements. Network
and/or hardware problem determination and diagnosis capabilities-including
those for attached workstations, servers and network switching fabric,
regardless of problem origin--are graphically displayed and available in
real-time to a centrally located system operator.
Interoperability and Scaleability
In addition to the investment protection objectives, Global Connection
2000 is designed to support multiple protocol environments and operating
systems and, with emerging software and hardware, extend the network and
expand its capacity.
The District's implementation allows for the integration of voice, video,
and data streams. And, its design permits the growth in both number of
users and network appendages while maintaining high bandwidth connectivity.
Costs and Benefits
The District budgeted $1.8 million to support initially over 2,000 integrated
voice, video and/or data connections across a 12-square mile community,
supporting up to 25Mbs transmission speeds to the desktop for ATM attached
devices while allowing existing non-ATM based networks to "piggy-back"
the same.
Global Connection 2000 looks at the cost-benefit equation NOT in terms
of pieces of hardware and wiring at $x.xx, BUT rather bandwidth (or potential
types and numbers of bits transmitted) at $x.xx. The price-performance
found in Global Connection 2000 is superior to both stand-alone operating
system, single protocol LANs and today's multiple operating system with
paralleling single protocol networks. These cost-benefits are measured
in terms of initial costs of installation, integration of new technologies
or interoperability, and future growth or scaleability-i.e., investment
protection.
Partnerships
Global Connection 2000 is made possible through partnerships with leading
manufacturers and community-based organizations committed to a creating
a "win-win" for each member by each bringing their own unique,
non-competing resources to the table.
The District has six design partners and six network partners. The former includes long-standing business partners having a vendor relationship with the District. Included in the latter are community partners who contribute to and benefit from the network and its operation.