* Convergence in education, Part 1
This week, we’d like to focus on how convergence is working out for education. Today, we’ll take a look at the School District of Cheltenham Township in Pennsylvania.
Alcatel, Verizon, and the school district recently talked about how the district’s system helps it meet student, teacher, and administrative needs. The school district had two major goals. It wanted both to improve its teaching environment and to increase student safety.
The district selected a transparent LAN service to converge its separate voice and data networks. The transparent LAN will provide 10M bit/sec for applications like distance learning, including immediate access to an online video library. The LAN will also provide a backbone for Alcatel’s Omni PCX VoIP system, integrating the PBX with the service.
Moving beyond a simple replacement of standard telephone features, Alcatel has developed a specific Omni PCX applications package for the K-12 schools to improve administrative process and student security. For example, teachers will be given secure access on their desktop phone to student records and contact information.
The desktop phones can also be used to visually communicate urgent news like weather updates or events. One feature that’s especially impressive is a “lockdown” notification that can be sent simultaneously and discreetly to the teachers’ phones in case a campus security situation requires students to remain in their classrooms.
We believe that developing vertically targeted systems are key to a successful convergence evolution. Looks like Verizon and Alcatel have figured out the same thing.
Next time, we’ll look at a system deployed by a top-tier university.
