The Lewisburg Area School District in Pennsylvania was faced with trying to satisfy three different requirements, with the budget for only one. A new LAN-based administration application, that helps the school district meet federal payroll regulations, needed to be connected to multiple school district locations across a wide area network. There was also the growing requirement to expand voice communications in all of the schools and to interconnect computers in the classrooms, laboratory and the library for full online and Internet access. Phones in every classroom enable teachers to dial 911 directly from a classroom, or call the administration office if necessary. Parents calling the schools can verify homework assignments, lunch menus, and event calendars directly via prerecorded messages.
Parents can also leave a message for a teacher or administrator via the voice mail system.
The cost estimates for running separate voice and data networks proved prohibitive. Initially, Lewisburg did not consider combining their voice and data requirements due to the expected high cost. BVT leases capacity on the system to Lewisburg Area School District, while providing 24 hour management and system redundancy, options not available at customer premise installations without incurring associated costs. It used to take a week or two to process a PO request. Any authorized user can access student records, budget reports, or payroll timesheets without delay.