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Education

Passive Optical LAN unifies and extends networks inside classrooms, and across campuses, which ultimately improves connectivity demands for better student learning – all while lowering costs for school administrators.

The smart choice for educators

Optical LAN used in K-12 schools

Connectivity drives life on campuses. Students, teachers, professors, administrators and support staff rely on secure, stable networks for learning, collaborating, campus management and so much more. However, constant funding pressures can make it difficult to meet growing demand for network resources.

Tellabs Optical LAN solution offers a cost-effective way to unify and grow networks across schools, colleges, universities and local communities to offer ultra-fast broadband services while lowering operating costs and reducing energy consumption. Plus, the fiber-based solution easily scales and adapts to support next-generation technologies.

Quick Facts

  • Reduces operating costs with fewer electronics moving parts
  • Network intelligence and management is centralized
  • Requires fewer IT resources to maintain campus-wide services
  • Easily interconnect far-reaching campus buildings
  • Helps schools achieve sustainability goals
  • Significantly reduces energy, plastics and other materials
K-12

Tellabs Optical LAN is the smart choice for classrooms, labs, offices, libraries, sports facilities, cafeterias, book stores and multi-purpose rooms. It scales modern voice, video, video conferencing, collaboration apps, eBooks and tablet access, e-learning apps, Wi-Fi, cloud services and centralized data center over fiber's limitless capacity.

Optical LAN has superior reach (i.e. 12-18 miles) that uniquely enables “private LAN” design across entire school district with a central data center serving multiple schools.

Even better yet, Optical LAN matches eRate’s goal of “transition away from legacy inter-connect technology in a cost conscious manner.”

Thunder Ridge High School
Facilities Connected
  1. Classrooms
  2. Faculty/Admin Offices
  3. Libraries
  4. Cafeterias
  5. Gyms
  6. Auditoriums
  7. Multi-Purpose Rooms
  8. Book Stores
  9. Remote Buildings
  10. Other Schools
Systems Supported
  1. Voice and Data
  2. Unified Communications
  3. Building Automation
  4. Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi
  5. Campus Safety (Blue Lights)
  6. Security Cameras
  7. Kiosks and Digital Signs
  8. Digital Audio
  9. HVAC and Lighting
Customer Installs
  1. Santa Fe
  2. White Plains
  3. Naugatuck
  4. Thunder Ridge
  5. Burnaby
  6. Laguna
  7. Southwest Licking
  8. Southwick
  9. Kalama
  10. Bloom County
  11. Fostoria
Higher

Tellabs Optical LAN scales to keep pace with campus growth and keep pace with new technology delivered across the large campus. It simplifies and converges school and campus wide technologies, networks, services and applications over fiber's unlimited capacity. Optical LAN can eliminate telecom rooms, reduce LAN mid-span electronics, purge cabling and associated materials improving school’s sustainability “green” goals. It's smart centralized intelligence and management helps improve campus IT ops efficiencies, network uptime and security.

University Campus
Facilities Connected
  1. Classrooms
  2. Faculty/Admin Offices
  3. Research Labs
  4. Auditoriums
  5. Sports Facilities
  6. Libraries
  7. Student Housing
  8. Cafeterias
  9. Perimeter Campus
Systems Supported
  1. Voice and Data
  2. Unified Communications
  3. Building Automation
  4. Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi
  5. Campus Safety (Blue Lights)
  6. Security Cameras
  7. Kiosks and Digital Signs
  8. Digital Audio
  9. HVAC
  10. Lighting
  11. R&E Networks (Internet2)
Customer Installs
  1. Northern Arizona University
  2. Montgomery College
  3. Emily Carr University
  4. Soka University
  5. Holy Names University
  6. Amherst College
  7. University of Wyoming
  8. Howard University
  9. Howard Community College
  10. American College of Radiology
  11. Texas A&M (Kyle Field)
eRate

The good news is that the eRate programs dedicate billions of dollars each year to network inter-connect upgrade projects. The goal of the program is to transition away from legacy inter-connect technology in a cost-conscious manner. However, there seems to be a foregone conclusion that wireless Wi-Fi is the priority for such a transition. Actually, the Wi-Fi portion is just one piece of an end-to-end network inter-connect solution. Wi-Fi access points are connected by wireline, so there is still a need for fiber-based infrastructure. And, one can expect that wired connectivity still remains in classrooms and across the campus, so having a fiber-based means of inter-connecting both wired and wireless end-points is ideal.

Passive Optical LAN can be that network interconnect that efficiently transitions away from legacy, subtends Wi-Fi access points, and occupies less space, consumes less energy and saves school districts money. And, there should be an emphasis on choosing a fiscally responsible technology, like Optical LAN, that provides better future-proof investment protection.

E-Rate Category 2 is the second category of equipment and services eligible for eRate support. Category 2 includes the internal connections needed for broadband connectivity within schools. The Tellabs Optical LAN solution will be eligible for eRate Category 2 and it is recommended that you contract an eRate specialist to confirm eligibility.

Higher education classrooms with passive Optical LAN

Featured Education Content

Shaping the Future of Education: How School Administrators Can Harness Networks for Student Success
Shaping the Future of Education: How School Administrators Can Harness Networks for Student Success
Jarrell ISD Modernizes Learning with Passive Optical Networking for Students, Teachers and Administration
Jarrell ISD Modernizes Learning with Passive Optical Networking for Students, Teachers and Administration

A better network for Schools, Colleges and Universities

People

Our Optical LAN solution enables school administrators to reduce IT budgets by deploying an established technology that provides LAN simplification and scalability. The IT staff charged with maintaining the schools’ networks see greater operational efficiencies, network uptime and security with Optical LANs. Faculty and students enjoy high performance, high availability access to wired, Wi-Fi (over OLAN) and DAS services (over fiber) from school equipment and their own laptops, smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Network

Fiber cable has no known bandwidth limits or obsolescence horizon, so today’s investment in fiber cabling for both LAN and WAN infrastructures is protected. Optical LAN’s superior reach can cost-effectively extend broadband services across a campus as well as local communities and neighboring anchor institutes. The architecture of the Passive Optical LAN eliminates telecom rooms, reduces LAN mid-span electronics, purges cabling and materials, which ultimately helps meet sustainability goals. With Optical LAN’s centralized intelligence and management, the network is simplified and IT skill-set and head-count reductions can be balanced. The network also provides the best possible performance for campus services and applications such as VoIP, unified communications, eLearning, scientific research, Wi-Fi, DAS, building automation, campus safety, security, surveillance, and all forms of video.

Operations

Optical LANs easily scale to keep pace with growing demand for data services and technology advancements. They are also a highly secure network to protect credit card transactions (PCI compliance), campus healthcare facilities (HIPAA compliance), student records and other confidential information. Optical LANs are well-suited to handle diverse and wide-ranging services and applications that are critical for aspects of campuses, such as classrooms, labs, faculty offices, libraries, study spaces, recreational areas, sports facilities, stadiums, outdoor areas, healthcare facilities, cafes, restaurants, book stores, conference centers and student housing.

Best choice for accelerating high-speed connectivity

Tellabs Optical LAN provides the best business case for accelerating the deployment of high-speed networks for schools, colleges, universities, affiliated facilities and local communities. These fiber-based networks power the connectivity that drives campus life in a lower cost, environmentally responsible way while positioning higher education institutions to easily adapt and scale services as demand grows and new technologies are introduced.

Looking for more information?

If you still need additional details, and even greater technical explanation, then click on the “Download White Paper” button below to access our comprehensive school solution white paper.

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