For immediate release
October 25, 1999

SCHOOLS TO PILOT SAELLITE-DELIVERED INTERNET ACCESS

The Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board has been selected along with the Lewisport - Gander School District in Newfoundland to pilot an innovative networking technology aimed at improving Internet services to rural Canadian schools.  The Canadian Network for Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE) is funding the $1-million project along with Telesat Canada, International Datacasting Corp. and Rebel.com.  These three Ottawa-based companies will provide satellite dishes, data receivers, and caching servers to several pilot schools in each district.

The technical basis for the project involves the integration of satellite communication and data storage or "caching" technology.  A central server in Ottawa will automatically identify popular educational web sites accessed by students at individual schools, and will transmit the information via satellite to all participating schools.  Satellite receivers at each school will decode the signal and save a local copy of the information in a specialized storage computer called a "caching server".  Classroom computers performing Internet searches, will be configured to check the local caching server first, before issuing a request to the often congested Internet.  It is expected that up to 40% of the Internet requests could be satisfied locally, providing a much more rapid response, and a more productive and user-friendly learning environment for students.

Twelve area schools are involved in the project which will run until August 2000.  Participants will monitor the system to test satellite transmission rates, adequacy of cache sizes, and most importantly, improvement of Internet access speeds for students and teachers.  Ultimately, the goal is to optimize the architecture of the system to make it appealing to schools right across the country.

List of Pilot Schools:
Secondary Schools    Elementary Schools
North Hastings High School
Centre Hastings Secondary School
Trenton High School
Bayside Secondary School
Centennial Secondary School
Quinte Secondary School
Moira Secondary School
Prince Edward Collegiate Institute North Hastings Senior Elementary School
Marmora Senior Public School
Tweed-Hungerford Public School
Pinecrest Memorial Elementary School
 

For more information contact:
Brian Smith - Information Technology Services 966-1170 ext 2417