Camp Hill students prepare for future with fiber

Camp Hill students prepare for future with fiber

A school district learned some important lessons when it decided to upgrade its network with fiber.

Charlie Fox amp Inc.

Most K-12 school systems are not equip-ped to handle the infrastructure demands of such educational tools as Internet access, multimedia resources, online curriculum development, graphics, and high-speed learning applications. Moving from such a virtually "no-tech" school system to one that features classrooms with fiber-optic cabling, laptop computers, and wireless network access takes considerable dedication and forethought by school district planners.

The Camp Hill School District, located west of Harrisburg, PA, learned this lesson when it decided to "future-proof" its network, which serves two elementary schools, one high school, and an administrative building. "Our business is educating children, not overseeing cabling and networking solutions," says Cornelius Cain, the superintendent of schools. Camp Hill therefore decided to hire a prime contractor to manage the network upgrade and chose amp Inc., in Harrisburg.

"Before our implementation, we reviewed all our cabling and infrastructure options with amp, which worked with the installers to ensure that our cabling needs were addressed, while also providing us with a single point of accountability for the entire project," explains Cain.

amp assessed Camp Hill`s requirements and designed the cabling-plant infrastructure. It then subcontracted the project to two of its authorized contractors--FP Integration and The Edward L. Heim Co.--to deliver a turnkey solution. FP Integration, a Philadelphia, PA-based network integration contractor, installed the Camp Hill project network electronics, which involved Connectware switches and fiber hubs, a wide area network router, and servers. The Heim Co., a Harrisburg firm, upgraded the four buildings with a complete end-to-end Netconnect infrastructure that consisted of nearly 13 mi of multimode fiber-optic cable to meet the current and future needs of the 1000-student district.

Yet even though the district decided to hire a prime contractor, it remained closely involved in the planning and implementation process. "Before we did anything, we involved the entire school community in our decision because we wanted everyone`s input," says Cain. "Basically, we assembled a technology plan and requested feedback from faculty and staff who would be using the new system as well as from parents and students. When we discussed the possibilities with all these groups, we received an overwhelmingly positive response. Everyone agreed that providing our students with the tools and technology necessary to better use computers, video, and the Internet, and enrich their education, would provide our students with a stronger collegiate and professional future."

These discussions, as well as consultations with its contractors, led Camp Hill administrators to a fiber-based network approach. "Rewiring our schools with fiber allows our students to access information more efficiently and faster--while also learning and communicating with teachers and other students over our network and over the Internet," adds Cain. "We knew that establishing a solid, high-performance infrastructure could not be an afterthought. We wanted a cabling foundation we could grow with, and fiber was the right choice."

The design effort

Because closet space was very limited within the schools and fiber provided the best upgrade path, the installation turned to a centralized optical-fiber cabling design that collapsed all the fibers and network equipment within each facility to a single closet. This centralization also maximized port utilization and minimized local area network administration costs through amp`s Centralized Network Administration concept (see figure).

The central closet for the entire district is at the high school, which also houses the main server, a Compaq 2500 rack-mount unit running WindowsNT. Camp Hill is running a Microsoft NT 4.0 network operating system and MS Exchange Server 5.0 as its e-mail environment. Central closets at each of the other buildings house a mini-server running each facility`s applications and network electronics. Aerially routed, interbuilding, fiber backbone cables link these mini-servers to the main unit in the high school.

The school district had been using a Novell server to house administrative information. amp and FP Integration integrated the server into the network so administrative staff and the various schools` principals could access and maintain the information more efficiently. The schools` budgeting software also is loaded onto the network server; it allows only staff with security clearance to access budget information. The schools` grading system resides on a unix platform located in the guidance counselor`s office.

Advantages of fiber

"Fiber gives Camp Hill an unlimited amount of bandwidth now and into the future," notes Milt Gouse, Heim Co. project designer and estimator. Most K-12 school systems require cabling upgrades to meet local and state building standards, as well as tia/eia-568a industry standards. However, if cabling that meets these standards is already in place, installers can use existing cable and components to upgrade the infrastructure as necessary to meet future requirements. Camp Hill required extensive rewiring to meet current standards, but now has an infrastructure that far exceeds that of most K-12 systems. Camp Hill also is considering implementing Asynchronous Transfer Mode to equip its students, staff, and faculty with the tools to compete in today`s information-intense world.

One such tool already in use is a cd-rom tower that enables high school students to access various programs and learning applications. The amp Multimedia Distribution System (mds) was installed as a pilot program to facilitate cross-campus learning, curriculum development, and other audio/video features. "We`re not yet using all the video capabilities of our system," admits Cain. "Right now, all our classrooms can view learning programs such as those on The Discovery Channel from different locations. We plan to take full advantage of mds to allow students to participate in lessons taking place in different classrooms and to assist teachers in their courseware development."

The Camp Hill network blends other transmission technologies with fiber. For example, classrooms in all four buildings use the amp Wireless lan System, which allows teachers, staff, and students to access the network via radio-frequency from their laptop computers (see photo). The wireless access points within each classroom are interconnected via horizontal and backbone fiber to 10Base-T hubs within the central closet. Hubs are segmented via switch technology and interconnected through a 100Base-T backbone. Each classroom throughout the entire campus is designed to support up to 20 wireless laptop computers at one time. Camp Hill`s capacity planning should provide each school with the infrastructure to meet growth and technology demands for at least the next 15 years.

The laptops are key collecting points for teachers, counselors, and the administrative staff. More than 100 laptops are used in the Camp Hill school system to assist in grading, curriculum development, and other administrative tasks. The wireless network lets teachers grade papers and send e-mail messages that enhance communications with other teachers and staff. Teachers also take advantage of learning programs that permit students to study an online textbook and reinforce lessons with accompanying courseware.

Seamless integration

The Camp Hill installation began in the fall of 1996 and was completed in June 1997. To meet the deadline, installers worked during school hours, yet were careful not to disrupt the daily school routine. "We installed the fiber cable during class time by focusing on specific areas of the building where there was less traffic," Gouse explains. "We planned our effort so we would not endanger or distract any children while we pulled cable."

The completed fiber-optic networking system, designed to accommodate growth in the school population as well as continuing demand for bandwidth, now fulfills Camp Hill`s technology requirements. "Schools can benefit greatly from fiber for today`s computing, multimedia, and Internet needs. Fiber also will serve the needs of tomorrow`s students," Cain comments. "It`s important for schools to `future-proof` their network by considering their infrastructure early on, and employ an organization with the expertise to design and install the job. The cabling we chose is as essential to our system as the learning applications we will run over it. As a result, we`re confident that our students will be well-prepared for the future." u

Charlie Fox is regional business executive at amp Premises Systems and Services in Harrisburg, PA.