In August 1998, Nortel acquired Bay Networks, which accounts for the majority of Nortel's K-12 networking sales. The network, when installed in all schools, will allow Rockford to deliver live streaming video, high-speed Internet and telephone services over a single Ethernet network to 16 school and administrative buildings at distances of up to 12 miles. The CoreBuilder 9000 systems also deliver Gigabit Ethernet connections to data and video servers at the high school and middle school. The installation is unique in that it's a fully converged network, delivering voice, video and data over a single network infrastructure, according to Rose Rodd, director of education industry marketing for 3Com. Instead of borrowing TVs and VCRs on carts along with video tapes, teachers can pull up, on demand, digitized video on their PCs.
Students can initiate video conferences with local experts or with students at other schools.
3Com's NBX product allows teachers to place phone calls over their data network and receive voice mail messages. The district needed to upgrade its antiquated telephone system, standard cable television connections and a computer network that linked only a few administrative offices. Rockford representatives visited 3Com's headquarters in California and decided to go ahead with the converged network application. One of the biggest benefits of the network, said Thelan, is that it cuts down on the cost of maintaining three separate networks. We're also able to bring in streaming video to the desktop.