CDW (News - Alert)-G and Sidera Networks have teamed up to provide Columbia College Chicago with fast access to educational and media resources at significant savings. The solution? A dark fiber network connection.

Columbia College Chicago is the largest private arts and media collegein North America. At one point, downloading media-rich content strained the network, which was critical for this Chicago college to access and edit media content in real time.

Burdened by this aging network, the college finally turned to CDW Government (CDW-G) to implement a dark fiber solution that would significantly expand bandwidth to all campus locations.

CDW-G, a provider of technology solutions to government, education and healthcare customers, recommended Sidera Networks to provide a dark fiber network connection to enable the college to scale its network, manage its own network, and reduce bandwidth restrictions and extra costs from a local telecommunications provider.

The implementation of the dark fiber network is scheduled to be completed this winter. Once the fiber is in place it will connect 15 buildings, allowing the college’s students and academic staff to seamlessly access Web tools and applications.

“The majority of our academic programs are digital in nature, and students need to be able to access and move large files over the network,” said Bernadette McMahon, associate vice president and chief information officer, Columbia College Chicago. “On our older network, students have to physically walk large audio and media files between buildings. With dark fiber, students can move and access their course files with a click of a mouse from any building on campus.”

“We understood that Columbia College Chicago’s students needed faster and more reliable access,” said Andy Lausch, vice president for higher education, CDW-G. “In recommending Sidera Networks (News - Alert), we looked at the college’s current and future bandwidth needs, and Columbia College Chicago selected Sidera Networks from among the 60 telecommunications carriers we work with because of the company’s track record and ability to build out complex fiber networks. The dark fiber solution will enable students to learn and collaborate on projects in real time, without being hindered by a cumbersome network.”