IBOP-EC = Faster Internet to ACUSD#10 @ a Lower Cost
March 29, 2012
You may have noticed the little flags running down 128 from the interstate to the Dairy Bar, and if you followed the line it would have lead you down Wurl Lane and over to the parking lot at the grade school. If you are like most people you wonder what that is all about: in short it is faster internet for ACUSD#10 schools at a lower cost.
The IBOP-EC is a partnership between the Department of Central Management Services (CMS), Illinois State University and more than 40 local organizations to improve broadband access for education, health care, government and public safety institutions to rural, economically distressed communities across a 55-county region in Illinois. The $96,382,028 project was funded by a federal grant, matching funds and in-kind contributions. It will bring to the Altamont Grade School a connection to a fiber line that will run along interstate 57 from Champaign to St. Louis. This connection will then be shared with the high school via our own private fiber optic cable we have between the buildings. ACUSD#10 is fortunate to be a part of the project and is one of the 10 community anchors institutions between Champaign and St. Louis.
The benefit to ACUSD#10 schools will be twofold when the project is completed within the next year. First, with a dedicated fiber connection to the internet our schools and students will have access to internet bandwidth that will be 10 times as fast as what we are using right now. It may have 10 Gigabyte speeds waiting for us if we ever need it. Secondly, since the fiber will be operated and maintained by ICN and CMS the payments we are making to communication companies for transporting the internet over leased fiber optic lines and phone lines will eventually disappear and we will only be paying for bandwitdh and maintenance. The end result should be access to greater internet speeds with a lower monthly cost. To see the map of the network and learn more about the project please vist the Illinois Broadband Opportunity Partnership-East Central (IBOP-EC) website.
