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Gallup-McKinley County Schools Enhances Student Learning With Qwest High-Speed Network Services

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 August 2008, 12:00 CDT

Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) today announced a 5-year, $7.4 million contract with Gallup-McKinley County Schools for a high-speed network that will deliver learning opportunities to students in this rural New Mexico district.

The 12,000-student district is using Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet (QMOE) to connect 21 sites in the Gallup area. QMOE will provide speeds up to 400 megabits per second (Mbps) at each school. The district will be able to take advantage of bandwidth-intensive activities, including distance-learning, advanced placement classes and after-hours courses for the area's many non-traditional students.

"One of our goals is to enhance learning by creating easy access to educational resources," said David Oakes, technology director for Gallup-McKinley County Schools. "With Qwest, we can enable virtual classrooms; and a curriculum that benefits teachers, faculty, students and the community."

"At Qwest, our goal is to provide a customer experience made exceptional by technology," said Teresa Taylor, executive vice president, Qwest Business Markets Group. "With Qwest's world-class communications services, the Gallup community will now have access to learning opportunities and resources that previously were out of reach."

Gallup-McKinley County Schools is using funds from the federal E-Rate program - the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism - to deploy these services. The fund provides discounts to assist schools and libraries in the United States to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access. Qwest worked closely with district officials to maximize the amount of funding the school district receives as part of the E-Rate program.

QMOE service combines the power of Ethernet and optical technologies across metro area networks (MAN) to provide low-cost, scalable and secure bandwidth. QMOE provides local area network (LAN)-to-LAN connectivity among two or more customer locations within a metro area, and is suitable for data applications that include data file transfer, Internet access, off-site data storage and access to hosting, outsourced mail and file server service, and outsourced application service. The service is also well suited to voice and video applications.

About Qwest

Customers coast to coast turn to Qwest's industry-leading national fiber-optic network and world-class Spirit of Service to meet their communications and entertainment needs. For residential customers, Qwest's powerful combination of award-winning high-speed Internet, home and wireless voice solutions and digital TV includes a new generation of fiber-optic Internet services. Qwest is also the choice of 95 percent of Fortune 500 companies, offering a full suite of network, data and voice services for small businesses, large businesses, government agencies and wholesale customers. Additionally, Qwest participates in Networx, the largest communications services contract in the world, and is recognized as a leader in the network services market by a leading technology industry analyst firm.

The Qwest logo is a registered trademark of Qwest Communications International Inc. in the U.S. and certain other countries.

Source: Business Wire

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