Comcast Business Takes Ethernet To School

Comcast Business announced that Springfield Public Schools in Union County (NJ), has selected the unit’s Ethernet service to support a tech learning environment for more than 2,400 students across the district’s five schools.

In addition to providing the Internet bandwidth (from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps) needed by the thousands of laptops and other mobile devices that access the school district’s network, Comcast Business will also provide a connection between Springfield Public Schools and its primary data center for the secure transfer of all critical administrative and educational data.

Springfield Public Schools is a five-school district that includes one early childhood learning center, two elementary schools, a middle school and one high school. The district offers a “1:1 learning environment” whereby it provides laptops for students in grades 6-12 as well as for all faculty and administrators. The Pre K-5 classrooms have a minimum of four laptops and tablets per classroom. Ethernet services are one of Comcast's growth engines. Overall, Comcast business service revenues grew to $876 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from $699 million in the year-ago quarter, and $3.24 billion for all of 2013, compared to $2.56 billion in 2012. About 20% of revenues in the category come from mid-sized businesses served by the multiple service operator's Metro Ethernet platform.

[March 11]