Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Bridges.com (T.BIT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: waldo who wrote (576)	4/6/1999 8:03:00 PM
From: Syl98	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1249

Hey Waldo how are you? Nice to see you here.

To: waldo who wrote (576)	4/6/1999 10:28:00 PM
From: Syl98	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1249

Waldo do you know how long they have been listed on 100hot.com? #66 hot1.go2net.com

To: waldo who wrote (576)	4/13/1999 5:20:00 PM
From: roddio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1249

BRIDGES. COM in the right place at the right time ! More money being spent by schools to get on the net. This nr I found on the Wi-Lan thread illustrates how eager they are. Note the money they are spending and their statements about growing inet use in the schools. ( Not a plug for Wi-Lan) For immediate release Students surf for knowledge as Peel District School Board connects with high-speed wireless Internet network from Wi-LAN School system chooses faster, less expensive wireless networks as student Internet use mushrooms (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 1999) - Driven by surging Internet use in its schools, the Peel District School Board today announced that it will purchase 50 wireless Ethernet bridges from Wi-LAN Inc., a leading provider of high-speed wireless data communication products. The units will connect 28 secondary schools in the region. Peel District School Board is one of Canada?s largest public school systems covering 776 square kilometres in the municipalities of Missassauga, Brampton and Caledon - it serves 104,000 students. The wireless wide area network will supply students with the high-speed bandwidth needed to conduct research on the Internet, as well as the ability to access centrally located on-line archival databases containing encyclopedias, newspapers and magazines. The Wi-LAN units will use a series of towers and antennas atop each school to create a high-speed network backbone that transfers data via radio waves rather than more expensive wire-based networks. Wi-LAN has begun shipping the units for phase one of the project, scheduled to complete mid-summer. In phase two, the board will evaluate upgrading the network backbone based on demand and as newer, faster Wi-LAN units become available. <"With the Internet flourishing in schools, the bandwidth demands on existing systems has reached a critical point,"> says Michael Stratis, Manager, PC LANs and Communication, Peel District School Board. "<<Wireless was the only way we could feasibly provide the future bandwidth needed to drive the next wave of education technology that increasingly relies on the Internet.">> <<Stratis says school boards across Canada are facing the same predicament as they grapple with the need to implement capacity-intensive multimedia and Internet applications under tight budgets. The Internet is in its infancy, but increasingly provides the backbone for a range of innovative new educational applications that are changing curriculum, as well as the entire way information is gathered in schools, he says.>> Searching for a low-cost alternative Long renowned as a pioneer in the use of technology to support new educational approaches, the Peel District School Board needed a faster, less expensive means of connecting its schools.<< Driven by teachers using the Internet in class and the need to position the schools for future online applications, the demand curve on the board?s system was on a steady rise with a typical school network supporting 150-450 computers and up to 2,200 students.>> Stratis and his team recognized that the board?s existing ISDN network didn?t have the capacity to support new educational Internet-based curriculum such as distance and collaborative learning. They explored other alternatives, such as, T1 service which would have raised the cost tenfold to a staggering $20,000 per month for all secondary schools in the region. As well, they wanted a technology that was not only the most cost-effective option but also offered the flexibility to fit in with their existing infrastructure. Buoyed by a successful small-scale wireless project, the board decided to pursue wireless as a final alternative. The search led them to Wi-LAN, who installed 30-24 Hopper Plus Ethernet bridges between two schools north of Brampton that had no access to digital lines. The board erected a 75-foot tower on top of the central ?hub? at Robert J. Lee Public School that enables students from the more distant Mayfield Public School to connect wirelessly to the Internet. At two times the speed of T1 lines, the 3 Mbps speed of the Wi-LAN bridges will also benefit teachers and administrators who can now connect to host of new communication services as well as future applications such as videoconferencing and distance learning. "The low-cost of wireless was undoubtedly the major factor in our decision," says Kevin Kelly, Communications and Internetworking Team Leader for the Peel board. "And because there are no monthly charges with wireless, we estimate the investment in phase one of the project will be pay for itself in about 24 months." The Peel board joins a growing list of schools that are using Wi-LAN wireless technology to connect schools in both rural and remote school districts. Wi-LAN?s high-speed wireless Ethernet bridges are currently used by school districts in wireless Internet projects in Medicine Hat, Alberta, as well as the recently announced Northern Lights School Division project in northern Alberta that connects schools across more than 9,500 square kilometres. Telecom giants in Sweden and the U.K. are also using Wi-LAN technology to wirelessly connect outlying business districts in major cities. "Wireless technology is quickly gaining popularity with both the public and private sector from cash-strapped school boards to multinational telecom companies searching for new ways to extend services to a broader customer base," says Dr. Hatim Zaghloul, Wi-LAN president and CEO. About Wi-LAN Wi-LAN delivers wireless data communications products that feature consistent high performance, easy installation and superior quality at significantly lower costs than traditional wire-based networking alternatives. Wi-LAN provides infrastructure and high-speed networking equipment for public and private wireless data networks.