Pulling Glass

In the Bellingham Public School District, each school has a fiber optic computer network inside each building that supports the internal network of computers and printers. This type of computer network is called a LAN or Local Area Network. A LAN connects computers and printers inside a building. We also have a WAN or Wide Area Network. A WAN connects buildings, allowing the buildings to communicate and share resources like printers, servers and documents. Our first WAN was installed in 1999 between South Elementary, Keough and Paul J. Primavera buildings. At the time, each building used a leased line from Verizon to connect to the school's network. We paid a monthly fee for access, just like many of you do for your internet access at home. We wanted to take advantage of the close proximity of the three buildings by running our own fiber to establish a wireless network. When we accomplished this task, we saved money each year by eliminating the leased lines.

We researched several available options, including wireless access points, running fiber in-ground and installing fiber up on telephone poles. We settled on installing fiber on the connecting telephone poles. Surprising as that may sound, it’s a common practice. We actually pay a very small amount of money to lease space on the telephone poles and the conduits that stretch from just outside of South’s building past Keough and into the Paul J. Primavera Building. We contact all the "owners" of the poles which are the local electrical and telecommunications companies. When the electric and phone companies allowed us access, we hired a wiring company to affix the fiber to each telephone pole and bring the fiber into each building. Now, all three buildings act as one network and they share network services and computer resources. It’s a cost effective and fast solution to connecting buildings and operating computer networks.

Since we completed a successful implementation of fiber between our three buildings, we decided to continue installing fiber to connect buildings when an opportunity arose. The construction of the High School in 2000 and the renovation of the Middle School in 2002 provided just that opportunity. The heart of the school destricts computer network is called the “head end”. A “head end” is the location in a network that houses the telecommunication line that connect all buildings together and connects the school to the internet. The construction/renovation process allowed us the opportunity to move the majority of our computer Wide Area telecommunications lines into the High School. This allowed the High School, which upon opening housed grades 7-12, access to the internet and to the school’s intranet. At the same time, we took the opportunity to lay fiber from the High School to the Middle School. Effectively this new connection allowed the High School and the Middle School to operate as one network. We were able to share the High School’s internet connection, and the file, print and network servers. This saved the school district several hundred thousand dollars by not having to spend additional dollars on hardware the High School already had available.

Many of the positive aspects of installing fiber networks have come true for Bellingham. We have accomplished fast and scaleable network speeds. We have surveyed the cost of implementing a fiber optic network connecting all thirteen of Bellingham’s town and school buildings. We will continue to address building a town-wide fiber optic network and when the time is right, it’s quite possible we will have all buildings connected by our fiber network! We would like to thank the members of Bellingham’s School Committee, Building Committee and both School and Town Administration. We would not have such great success without their support!

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Mike Garofano, Director of Management Information Systems, at 508-966-4282.