Although New Jersey-based Denville School District comprises only three schools, it has the same goals as systems 10 or 20 times larger - goals such as empowering their students to be productive global citizens.

The district has been eager to leverage technology in support of its students' progress and provide a more interactive teaching and learning experience. Moreover, New Jersey Department of Education's new standards on integrating technology across the curriculum essentially required that Denville upgrade its network - which limited Internet use - in order to comply.

To meet its IT, operational and educational needs, Denville School District chose Optimum Lightpath to replace its TLS network and ISDN PRI solution with a GigE Managed Private Fiber WAN and Internet/Voice bundle. The new package not only offered 47 megabits of speed, but also saved cash: $50,000 annually while its 2,300 faculty, staff and students gained access to significantly more bandwidth.

Extending Learning Beyond The Classroom Walls

"We needed substantially more bandwidth at a reduced cost to more effectively incorporate technology into the teaching and learning experience, and Optimum Lightpath delivered," said John Seripligia, Business Administrator, Denville Board of Education. "As a result of the switch, we can make the learning experience much more interactive, incorporating podcasts, more heavily utilizing the Internet for research, supplementing lesson plans with limitless information from the outside world - and this is just the beginning."

Seripligia added that their back office systems now run much more smoothly, and the increased capacity will allow for future improvements to the system.

"Optimum Lightpath worked around our timeframe and executed with precision for a flawless rollout that was completely seamless from a faculty and student perspective," said Bill Owens, Technology Coordinator, Denville Board of Education.