Salish Kootenai College to Partner with Cutthroat Communications Bringing Broadband to Underserved Rural Flathead Reservation.

The Salish Kootenai College http://www.skc.edu/ in Pablo, Montana, has partnered with Cutthroat Communications http://www.cutthroatcom.com to bring affordable broadband Internet to the residents and businesses on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The college was awarded a grant through the Division of Advanced Network Infrastructure and Research office of the National Science Foundation to develop the Flathead Reservation Wireless Community Network. After a successful initial build-out, the college secured two additional federal grants to expand the reach of the network and acquire a Polson, Montana-based ISP – CompuPlus.

Cutthroat will design and construct a carrier-class network backbone expansion that will provide high-scale broadband capacity. The partnership will help Cutthroat Communications and the Salish Kootenai College expand service to northwestern Montana that will have a far-reaching impact on broadband service within the region.

Salish Kootenai College developed the Flathead Reservation Wireless Community Network to provide research opportunities on advanced networking for its IT students, assist with business development on the reservation, support tribal endeavors that would benefit from such a network, assist its students, staff & faculty through low-cost high-speed connections, provide IT students with hands-on training, and provide a revenue stream to support future IT development.

Prior to the implementation of the new network, remote users in the area only had the option of dialup connections to the Internet. With the expansion of the Flathead Reservation Wireless Community Network, more area residents will have access to enhanced personal communications such as multimedia, email, telecommuting, and affordable broadband Internet for businesses to conduct commerce on a global scale over the Internet.

According to Steve Depuis, Director of the Flathead Wireless Network Project, Salish Kootenai College chose Cutthroat as a partner because the company is “very responsive to the needs of its clients, has a very knowledgeable and capable staff, and they have a 24/7 NOC [Network Operations Center].” Mr. Depuis added, “I like the fact that Cutthroat is a Montana company that is committed to our area.”

Currently, users that have Line-of-Sight (LOS) to Polson Skyline hill communications site can have access to the network. After completion of the backbone network expansion, all of the larger communities on the reservation will have access to the high-speed network. Additional funding is being sought for the continued expansion into the difficult-to-reach areas of the reservation, along with the customer support system to service such a project.

About Salish Kootenai College

Salish Kootenai College began in 1977 as a branch campus of Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) to foster curricula and vocational certification, and associates and bachelors degree programs that meet the unique needs of the Native American population. Since that time, the college has expanded to list 4 bachelor’s degree, 14 associate degree, and 7 certificate programs. The staff currently includes 49 full-time and 60 part-time faculty, and the campus hosts a Fine Arts Center, Science Facility and golf course. Salish Kootenai College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.

About Cutthroat Communications – A TransAria Company
Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, Cutthroat Communications. – named after the west slope cutthroat trout – provides Internet and data networking services in Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon. With its Network Operations Center, Cutthroat offers its commercial customers 7 X 24 network monitoring services, as well as enhanced traffic utilization and network surveillance reporting. The company also offers professional services, which include network audits, system design, security analysis, and wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) implementation.

Contact:

Dennis Burton

Cutthroat Communications – A TransAria Company

Phone: 406-556-1734

Fax: 406-585-9685

Email Address:

http://www.cutthroatcom.com