Case Study: Billings Public Schools Saves $3 Million with Zhone Technologies FiberLAN Deployment at 26 School Sites

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Jun 20, 2016, 08:00 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., June 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Billings Public Schools' mission is to provide technology that allows students and staff to live, learn and work successfully in an increasingly complex and information rich society. To achieve that, Billings Public Schools in Billings, Montana is upgrading its aging, copper-based technology platform throughout the district's 26 school sites with Zhone Technologies' FiberLAN solution. In total, utilizing FiberLAN helped the school district save approximately $3 million on the update of its broadband network.

Billings Public Schools in Billings, Montana is upgrading its aging, copper-based technology platform throughout the district's 26 school sites with Zhone Technologies FiberLAN solution. In total, utilizing FiberLAN helped the school district save approximately $3 million on the update of its broadband network.

In a case study titled "FiberLAN GPON: An Affordable, Reliable Network Solution for Budget-Minded Public Institutions" Larry Bybee, Network Manager at Billings Public Schools, articulates how the FiberLAN Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) solution enabled the school district to upgrade its aging technology platform and provide high-speed Internet bandwidth to all of its elementary school sites. The case study is available at www.zhone.com/case-studies/assets/billings-case-study.pdf.

According to a report by the non-profit group Education Superhighway, 21 million public school students lack the Internet bandwidth they need for digital learning. As a progressive district, Billings Public Schools wanted to ensure that it provides its students with optimal Internet access and developed a five-year plan that included upgrading the technology platform at 22 elementary schools and four middle schools in the district.

"As we started to research the project (with copper), we realized we couldn't upgrade all of the schools because the cost to rewire them all was too great," Bybee said. "Then our technology consultant, Kris Good of CTA Architects Engineers, an integrated architecture and engineering firm, suggested we check out GPON."

CTA Architects Engineers recommended FiberLAN due to the reliability, scalability and cost-effective nature of fiber. Zhone Technologies and CTA Architects Engineers collaborated to create a broadband network that supports the 16,000 staff and students across all its school sites, and provides reliable high-speed data, voice and video services to enable next-generation learning capabilities. Students and staff now have reliable, always-on access to the Internet, ensuring fewer disruptions for the teachers and more time spent educating students.

In addition to the substantial cost savings, there were additional efficiencies realized by reducing troubleshooting trips, which minimized the need for additional staff members. In addition, the district maximized its budget with a rebate from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries (E-rate) program.

"Our goal is to maximize technology so we can provide an environment for our students to learn and develop their technology skills," adds Bybee. "With Zhone's affordable solutions, we will continue to offer those high standards across our district."

As new technologies emerge, Billings Public Schools has an infrastructure that will allow for growth in the future, essentially "future proofing" the technology for years to come.

About Zhone Technologies
Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZHNE) is a global leader in the fiber access market, serving more than 750 of the world's most innovative network operators. The IP Zhone is the only solution that enables service providers to build the network of the future today, supporting end-to-end Voice, Data, Entertainment Social Media, Business, Mobile Backhaul and Mobility service. Zhone is committed to building the fastest and highest quality All IP Multi-Service solution for its customers. Zhone is headquartered in California and its products are manufactured in the USA in a facility that is emission, wastewater and CFC free.

Zhone, the Zhone logo, and all Zhone product names are trademarks of Zhone Technologies, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders. Specifications, products, and/or product names are all subject to change without notice.

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