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TuWay Helps Consortium Eliminate Cost of Fiber and Access Internet2
The Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
Allentown, Pennsylvania
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“TuWay’s wireless Internet access solution gave us the critical broadband connection we needed for web video presentations. The solution also eliminated the installation cost of fiber, which for us would have been significant since a major interstate highway runs between us and the nearest fiber connection point.”
Jerry Richter, Executive Director
Center for Advancing Partnerships
in Education |
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Business Problem
The Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education (CAPE) is a nonprofit consortium of approximately 90 institutions including public and private colleges, universities, school districts, and other community-based organizations. A key component of how CAPE delivers its services is web-based video.
“We present many education programs over the Internet to our members,” says Jerry Richter, executive director for CAPE. “We provide training, and our members also use the service to provide training, so we need to make sure our audio and video come across clearly and at acceptable transmission speeds.” Another reason why CAPE needed broadband connectivity was to have access to Internet2, a second-generation Internet supported by an international consortium of universities dedicated to education applications. Internet2 gives educational institutions dedicated rather than shared bandwidth.
These requirements became a challenge for CAPE due to their DSL Internet connection. “The video and audio requirements of our programs had gone beyond the capabilities of DSL,” Richter says. “We needed to upgrade to broadband so that we could properly deliver our educational services.”
The upgrade, however, was not going to be easy and would require a large investment. A major, interstate highway separates the CAPE office building from the nearest fiber connection. To make the connection, CAPE would have to pay for a trench to be dug under the highway. CAPE would also need to go through a lot of red tape to obtain permission from the landowners of the properties across which the trench would travel to the nearest fiber connection point (three miles away).
Project Solution
To establish a broadband connection, CAPE turned to Service Electric, a telecommunications company that deploys fiber-optic technologies to offer high-speed Internet, telephony, and customer services over the web. Both parties immediately realized that establishing a direct fiber connection to CAPE’s office building would be cost-prohibitive.
“We knew that the cost to dig the trench under the highway and gain right-of-way permission would be so high that we did not even attempt to estimate the cost,” Richter says. “We needed something much less expensive.”
At the time of installation, CAPE was also preparing for a major video conference for which a broadband connection would be crucial. CAPE informed Service Electric that they needed the connection in place within 30 days. To meet this time requirement, Service Electric turned to a trusted business partner: TuWay Communications.
“We knew TuWay had the wireless expertise to quickly establish a connection,” says Jeff Kelly, senior network engineer at Service Electric. “We had worked with TuWay on other projects and knew we could trust them to meet the deadline.”
TuWay immediately met with CAPE and Service Electric and then recommended an Alvarion point-to-point solution. “It helped considerably that TuWay’s reputation as a professional company was well established,” Kelly says. “Normally, a building owner would want a roofing contractor to be involved and would also require an extensive insurance review. These challenges add to the cost. But because the landlord trusted and knew our company and TuWay, we were able to begin the project much faster.”
Results
TuWay successfully installed the wireless connection within the 30-day requirement so that CAPE could present its major video conference presentation over broadband. “The installation went smoothly, and our web presentation broadcasted more smoothly with the increased bandwidth,” Richter says.
The broadband equipment sits on CAPE’s roof connected to their internal router and communicates with the fiber network access point. “Our access speed has improved considerably, and the device functions flawlessly so that we forget it’s even there,” Richter says.
TuWay installed a system that gives CAPE room to grow. CAPE’s solution has 10MB/second transmission capability, but the organization currently uses only about 3MB/second. This increased transmission speed has allowed CAPE and its members to broadcast presentations without any degradation. By also giving CAPE access to Internet2, the wireless connection allows CAPE to collaborate more easily with educational institutions around the world on initiatives involving applications, engineering, and middleware that aid the educational process of CAPE’s members.
The wireless Internet connection saved tremendously over the cost of establishing an initial fiber connection. “There’s just no comparison between the TuWay solution and what the cost would have been had we paid to dig the trench,” Richter says. “And when you consider not having to pay the ongoing monthly access cost of fiber, the TuWay solution makes sense every way you look at it.”
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