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New Orleans Schools Learn their Gig-E’s

New Cox Communications fiber network for parish schools cuts out the incumbent, BellSouth, to the tune of $2
million a year.

TNE Web Exclusive

By Jonathan Blum

The New Orleans public school system is jumping to the cutting edge of converged voice, video and data this week by
announcing that it will roll out a robust Gig-E fiber-to-the-building network to its schools.

The school system will run its entire communications package of voice, Internet access, high-speed data and other
services within the new system. The New Orleans system expects to serve 146 buildings, 10,000 faculty members and
76,000 students at a cost of $20 million.

The project has a three-year term.

In a novel twist, service will provided by a cable
company, Cox Communications, through its Business
Services unit. The network is considered the first of its
kind for the company.

"This is a philosophical shift for us," says Michael
Trahan, sales director at Cox Business Services. "The
project did not report to local general managers. We
pulled several different departments together at a central
level to get this done."

The move by New Orleans public schools effectively
takes the district off the incumbent’s phone grid. For
example, voice service will be trunked by the new
network to a Nortel DMS 500 switch that Cox currently
controls, for access to the public communications
network, says Trahan.

In a chilling note for the incumbent, Cox estimates
BellSouth will lose $2 million of revenue annually.

The network was funded at least partially by the $2.25 billion federal E-Rate fund for building connectivity in K-through-12
schools.

Cox provided the service with a minimal upgrade to its existing digital cable plant. It claims that only short fiber runs to
some buildings were needed. The system is expected to run on its own separate fiber strands within the current plant
and will not require tricky integration with Cox’s legacy cable system.

The company used Gig-E, as opposed to ATM or other networking technologies, because of its high bandwidth. It plans
to offer other advanced services, like distance learning, with the system.

The company says it plans to pursue other education, health care and government agencies. There is some speculation
that other cable operators will follow suit with similar buildouts.

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