Telecommunications

Overview

The explosive growth of the telecommunications industry within the last 10 years can be traced, quite simply, to the goals of businesses and corporations in a young, still evolving world economy. Today, businesses and corporations rely heavily on their ability to share data and information within their own organizations and their strategic partners. Today, data is being collected, analyzed and shared in quantities that ten years ago would have been considered nearly impossible to manage. This need for a communications infrastructure, networking and supporting technologies to meet these new goals is driving the growth and the advancement of the telecommunications industry.

The growth of telecommunications also began in response to the business need to overcome two barriers in the marketplace, time and distance. In the past, time and distance were not mitigating factors in the marketplace because the marketplace was more localized. Today's marketplace is no longer localized. The global economy has made its presence known and transcends not only the barrier of time but distance as well. In response to this need, the global telecommunications industry has developed and advanced numerous technologies that play a key role in most businesses and corporations ability to successfully compete in the marketplace.

Today, the telecommunications needs of businesses and corporations tend to fall into one or more of the following three categories: voice communications, data transmission and video delivery. Voice communications primarily involve the use of the telephone to complete local and long distance phone calls. Data communications allow to or more computing devices to connect for the purpose of transmitting and receiving data. Video delivery is the transmission of a video signal to one location (point to point) or to many locations (point to multi-point).

The pressures of a changing global marketplace caused business to turn to a variety of solutions and technologies. It appears that business has integrated telecommunications into its practices in order to compete on a global basis. There exist a fair number of similarities between the pressures placed on businesses from the evolving global economy and the pressures being placed on the American public school system. As noted in other sections of this document, the American public school system is being asked to change drastically in order to meet these new demands.

In order to survive, the American business community has turned to technology and, in particular, telecommunications as tools to develop and establish new business practices. These new business practices have shown they can help bring about change and allows business to compete on a global basis. Similarities exist between the paradigm shift that have occurred in business and the market pressures coming to bear on K-12 public education. Therefore, we may find that similar strategies, such as telecommunications, can be implemented with similar results.

Background and Current Issues

The use of telecommunications in schools requires a three-step approach. First, the development of a local area network (LAN) and corresponding infrastructure. Second, the connection of numerous local area networks into a wide area network (WAN). The final piece is the connection to the world wide network commonly known as the Internet. Each step is comprised of an infrastructure for carrying the communications that includes both the cabling and the required electronics, a methodology for communication and a system for supporting the telecommunications effort. The form or topology that both LANs and WANs is determined after the goals and objectives of the telecommunication network are established. These goals and objectives will determine the bandwidth that is required of the networks, both local and wide area.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the capacity of the network to transmit and receive data. The increased bandwidth of a LAN/WAN enables the network to carry more data and transmit the data at faster rates. The type of voice, video and data communications required will determine the amount of bandwidth and speed needed in both the LANs and WAN of an organization. As in the case of most technologies, the greater the bandwidth the greater the cost.

Local Area Networks

LANs are considered to be networks that are limited to one site, such as a school. The site may have multiple buildings but the local infrastructure is designed to handle all of the internal voice, video and data communications without the need to access services outside of the site. A LAN provides for all the internal telecommunications needs for the site. The standards for local area networks are come from the international standards-making body known as the International Standards Organization (ISO). A part of this international organization known as IEEE (Institute of Electronic and electrical Engineers) sets standards based on ISO recommendations within the United States.

Wide Area Networks

WANs are an inter-network that extends between two of more local area networks. In most cases, the WAN is used to span distance such as between sites in a school district or throughout a state and provide the link the word wide network, the Internet. The development of a WAN requires careful consideration. For the most part WANs are built using the services of a telecommunications provider, through the use of satellite links, microwave links and dedicated phone circuits capable of carrying large amounts of traffic over the WAN.

Student Benefits

The ability for telecommunications to break the barriers of time and distance is well documented. From an individual's need to communicate across the globe to a corporation's worldwide marketing strategy telecommunications have proven to be an effective tool. For the student, resources available on a school's LAN, a district's WAN or the Internet can be accessed regardless of date or time to benefit the needs of the student. Ultimately, the learning moment is not confined to a predefined time frame 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, August to May.

Recommendations

In order to insure that all students have the ability to access local, national and global resources funds should be allocated for the following:

• Computers and/or devices to access the resources on the Internet
  • Cost: $750 to $2,000 per device depending on the type of technology selected
• Hardware at each school to access WANs and the Internet
  • Cost: $10,000 to $100,000 per site depending on the size of the school or school district and the technology selected. Note: This does not include the cost of file servers, backup devices, etc.
• Monthly utility fee paid to telecommunications carriers for access
  • Cost: Can range in cost from several hundred to several thousand dollars per month per site. Note: This cost may decrease as new carriers enter the market and create pressure to lower the cost of these services. Also, legislation may be enacted that requires telecommunications carriers to provide services to schools in Arizona for a substantially reduced cost.
• Staff development and training for educators to learn how to use and implement these new found resources into existing curriculum and instructional strategies; also, to develop new curriculum and instructional methods as the need for different strategies becomes apparent in a changing educational market.
  • Cost: Can be as high as several thousand dollars to individual per year depending on the type of staff development/training model selected and the long term objectives of the program.
• Upgrade costs. The long term success of a strategy such as the use of telecommunications in education is dependent on the ability of the school/school district to maintain the equipment, hardware and software, associated with the technology.
  • Cost: Can range from several thousands to tens of thousands of dollars per year per site depending on the type of technology implemented.