Southwest One brings new high-speed broadband network to Somerset schools
Southwest One, through its innovative partnership arrangement with Somerset County Council, is bringing the County's 269 schools and educational establishments a new high-speed broadband network.
The first dedicated fibre-optic network for schools anywhere in the Southwest of England will give 70,000 children and young people as well as 10,000 teachers and support staff the ability to make better use of exciting and innovative learning resources.
In addition to faster access to the Internet and to Somerset's e-Learning portfolio of courses, the network will provide a platform for new video and voice teaching applications in the future -for example video-conferencing for specialist teachers.
"This is great news for Somerset and our schools. We hope this will be a catalyst that allows significant improvement to Somerset's broadband and communications infrastructure enabling significant opportunities for Somerset's future economic and social growth." said Cllr David Huxtable, Cabinet Member - Resources, Somerset County Council.
The new network will be built on BT’s 21st Century Next Generation (21CN NGA) National fibre optic network. Rollout will start over the next few weeks. Secondary and middle schools will be provided with data connection speeds of 100MB/sec – over ten times today's average speed.
"This announcement is a positive step forward for both children and teachers in my own school and more importantly the wider Somerset learning community. This project is about securing and enhancing what we are doing and opening up future opportunities to help children learn." said Paul Sheehan, Headteacher, St Andrews CoE Primary School, Taunton.
Southwest One led the project and will manage the new network as part of the services it provides to schools on behalf of Somerset County Council, which include a range of technology and administrative functions including Procurement, Property & Facilties Management and Payroll.
"Southwest One is committed to improving local residents' access to services. We see the upgrade of this network as key for our schools and are excited about the possibilities it opens up for the wider Somerset community." Fiona Capstick, Chief Executive, Southwest One.
Chris Ainslie, BT’s vice president for Local, Regional and Devolved Government, said: “This ground breaking new network will make an important contribution to the quality of education provided in Somerset’s schools. BT is delighted to be a part of improving Somerset's broadband and communications infrastructure enabling future economic and social growth. “
