PICKENS COUNTY — Pickens County schools now have internet service that is up to 100 times faster and county businesses will soon have access to new internet infrastructure, thanks to a partnership between the school district and Conterra Networks.
SDPC has completed the special construction of a multi-year agreement with Conterra Networks to deploy an all fiber optical network to support the data, video and voice requirements of its schools.
“We are thrilled we are able to give our students a network that is up to 100 times faster than our existing network without spending additional dollars,” said Dr. Danny Merck, SDPC superintendent. “By rethinking how we spend existing funds and taking advantage of E-rate, we are bringing money Pickens’ residents pay in their phone bills back to the county’s students.”
The district is celebrating this accomplishment at a ceremony Monday, Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. at Clemson Elementary School. Industry and education partners associated with the fiber build, including Clemson University, will be at the ceremony.
Ray Farley, executive director of Alliance Pickens, is also pleased with the infrastructure advantage this fiber brings to Pickens County. “Conterra Networks is building over 100 miles of fiber in the county. While the fiber network will primarily serve the county’s schools, local businesses can also benefit from the new fiber optical network.” Conterra’s EVP Van Snowdon notes, “We continue to offer school districts aggressive network solutions at affordable rates, while bringing fiber to rural areas that traditionally cannot access high-speed broadband for local business needs.”
In technical terms, the fiber optical network provides 10 gigabit connectivity to each SDPC location and is scalable to 100 gigabits with no additional construction. Conterra monitors, manages, and supports its networks on a 24x7x365 basis and guarantees network performance and reliability. Previously, the district had 100 megabits at most elementary schools, 500 megabits at most middle schools, and 1 gigabit at most high schools, officials said.
The network was completed in October 2019.
The project was funded in large part by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) E-rate program through telephone fees. The primary goal of E-rate is to ensure affordable access to high-speed broadband in schools and libraries. The remaining funds came from existing district dollars. According to Merck, the district allocated money spent on the existing network toward this project.
According to Dr. Barbara Nesbitt, assistant superintendent for Technology Services for SDPC, “Emerging educational and video applications are increasingly moving to cloud-based environments. With our one-to-one Tech It Home initiative and other innovative practices like project-based and personalized learning, it is critical we provide our teachers and students with a high-speed, secure, and reliable network.” There are many immediate benefits to increased bandwidth. Andy Coleman, Network Administrator for SDPC, noted, “With the new network, we will be able to administer state-mandated tests in one week instead of spreading testing out over several weeks. This means all students will have more instructional days prior to testing, not just those who are lucky enough to be scheduled at the end of the testing window.”
The district worked with Polly and Ed Gifford of Education Partners Solution, Inc. to design and procure the fiber network. Education Partners Solution, Inc. is a technology consulting firm specializing in K–12 infrastructure design.
“We’ve worked with schools in states like Texas for over 20 years to construct and lease fiber for wide area network and Internet connectivity such as the one Pickens is building. The availability of high capacity Internet has increased and cost of services in the entire state has dropped dramatically, said Polly Gifford, owner and principal consultant. “We’re excited that Pickens is leading the way to competitive fiber and internet pricing for their area and as a model for other schools in South Carolina,”
