Computer upgrade in progress
for Freehold Regional network
By dave benjamin
Staff Writer
ENGLISHTOWN — One of the side effects of a growing school population is the need to maintain and upgrade computer systems districtwide.
For the Freehold Regional High School District that means doing more than just adding computers to the network, it means upgrading the system to handle the increased volume.
"With all the additional computers that we have added on in the last year, in the media rooms and classrooms, one of our concerns is that our network was not large enough to handle the volume of all the students and staff at the same time," said Superintendent of Schools James Wasser.
Wasser told the members of the FRHSD Board of Education that students in the district were complaining that the computers were working more slowly as a result of the increase in volume.
In an effort to resolve the problem, Wasser said the district went with a Verizon ATM setup.
Reporting to the board on the new system, Joseph Deaton, network engineer, and Joseph Robinson, administrative supervisor, gave an update on the district’s latest improvement.
"It’s been a long process and it’s going very well," Robinson said. "One of the nice things that we are very fortunate about is getting the E-rate."
He said the E-rate offsets the cost of getting the ATM system in.
The administrative supervisor said, "The differential is $80,584 and we received over $80,000 E-rate. We are also pulling up on the training and educational aspects starting in September to integrate all these things into this large band."
In his explanation, Robinson said, "The bottom line is we were so restricted in our ability to send video, voice and data that it had an impact in our structural domain. Now, in September, we’re really looking to throttle this up."
The latest improvement will be able to improve services to students such as home instruction and online tutorials.
"We are really excited to come back to the board and present the many things we are doing in September," said Robinson. "We’re really looking forward to it."
Reporting on the project status, Deaton noted that the circuits are in and fiber optics have already been strung wherever needed. Routers are in place and all circuits and routers were expected to be live by the end of June.
Deaton told the board he expects the new system will be live and ready by mid-July.
"It will make a big difference," he said.
In layman’s terms, Deaton explained that in the past a lot of applications used in the media centers, world language classes, history and English classes, and distance learning required students to wait until the information appeared on the screen. Now the system will be faster.
Previously, there was a 1.5 megabyte link and soon it will be a 10 megabyte link, he explained.
"It’s a major project and it will make a big difference," said Deaton.