"We are trying to use technology to engage kids. ACS is a part of that, because frankly, you can’t do it without the network…ACS has kept Alaska out in front…We’re grateful to have them as a company we do business with.
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Jim White with Kenai Peninsula Borough School District
Customer Needs
A reliable network and internet connection that overcomes vast and varied geographic challenges to power web based teaching tools
My name is Jim White. I’m the Director of Information Services for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. The district office is in Soldotna Alaska. We’re a K-12 organization, so we have about 9000 students, 44 schools that cover an area of about 26,000 square miles. Four of our buildings are not accessible by road, only by air or water. Our geographical location causes lots of issue for delivery of services to rural Alaska. Most of our locations are served by ACS. We have a very robust network here. About ten years ago we entered into a partnership with ACS and Homer Electric Association who provides the district with 100 miles of dark fiber. We had to rely on ACS to build and provide us with fiber service into our schools. That became our core building block for our network. The amount of bandwidth we have available, even going back 10 years, gave us the capability to change how we did business. We have a very reliable network through ACS and one we can count on. We don’t have any technicians running in and installing software on PCs here and there. That’s all done through the network. If a teacher has a problem, we just connect right up to their machine, fix it and show them what we’re doing so they know how to do it next time. So it’s been a strong partnership. We are trying to use technology to engage kids. A lot of this technology is tools everyone is using to make that type of connect happen with kids. ACS is a part of that, because frankly, you can’t do it without the network. You have to have the network, you have to have a lot bandwidth, it’s got to be reliable. These are the things we count on from ACS. We rely on them. Sometime when you’re in Alaska, things are slow to happen here. But that hasn’t been the case with ACS and their data network. ACS has kept Alaska out in front, in this regard to data service. It’s great for me as a manager to work with a company that can provide solutions and ACS has done that for us time and time again. Progress, that’s the key word, we’ve got to keep moving forward, and fortunately ACS has been a partner that could keep up with us and we’re grateful to have them as a company we do business with.