Los Lunas School District Selects Qwest to Network Communications

Los Lunas School District has selected Qwest to deliver managed communications network.

The students in the school district will now have access to state-of-the-art e-learning technologies via a new, district-wide managed voice and data network from Qwest (News - Alert) Communications.

Officials with Qwest said that the company's solution combines the benefits of VoIP, the security of a redundant high-speed broadband data network, and the convenience of a managed Ethernet platform to connect each of the district's 16 schools and the office administration building with data transmission speeds up to 100 megabits per second, or "Mbps."

Company officials said that the Los Lunas School district utilizes Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet service for local area data networking between its schools and the office administration building.

The service is ideal for e-learning initiatives, data file transfer, mail and file server services, and application services.

The school district is reducing operating costs and increasing the flexibility of its voice communications by utilizing Qwest VoIP. More than 1,000 VoIP telephone sets were installed - one in every classroom.

Under the agreement, Qwest is responsible for installation, maintenance, repair, online configurations and network monitoring.

"We wanted a technology solution to enable effective classroom learning and curriculum development for our students and teachers without creating complex technical support and network management requirements", said Terry Othick, chief operations officer and director of technology, Los Lunas School District, in a statement.

Othick said that Los Lunas School District can now provide students and teachers better access to 21st-century learning resources while focusing on what it does best - educating today's youth.

Sharon Montgomery, vice president, Qwest Government and Education Solutions said that access to next-generation technology in the classroom continues to improve quality education for America's students, and is embraced by educators, school district administrators and policymakers nationwide.

"More and more school districts like Los Lunas are implementing data and IP communications solutions and using federal funding like E-rate to create affordable, integrated networks to support the evolving needs of today's educators, and the potential of today's students," said Montgomery.

Qwest Business offers a comprehensive portfolio of data and voice networking communications solutions to enterprises, government agencies and educational institutions of all sizes.