Week Five Topics

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The week five topics are:

#1:  * What successful telecommunications projects have you been involved
   with?

     I designed and implemented the ISDN network for Marysville Joint
Unified School District in Marysville California.  This consisted of
building a WAN connecting 18 geographically seperate locations into one
logical network using 128K ISDN circuits.  It also included installing
networks at the schools, connecting and configuring the servers in the
offices, and workstations in the classrooms.  I now working for Sutter
County Schools and am repeating this project for them.

#2:  	* Did these projects depend upon any special telecommunications
   rates? If so, give a brief description of these rates and indicate whether
   you think these rates might be jeopardized by new Universal Service
   subsidies. (This could happen if, for example, state PUCs were to decree
   that new subsidies supersede old rate structures.)

     We used a Pacific Bell program called Education First for some of these
connections.  Pacific Bell offers free ISDN installation and one free year
of service to schools and libraries if the connection is used in direct
support of student activities.  I can't predict wether or not PacBell would
continue this program if the a new Universal Service program required them
to extend now unavailable services to small rural schools.  Several of my
small school districts want to connect to our network, but can not because
ISDN is not available in there area, and Pac Bell does not intend to install
it - too expensive with little hope of any return on the investment.  We
have a WAN only because this PacBell program made it affordable.

#3:  	* Do your projects depend upon any particular tricks of the trade?
   If so, describe these imaginative applications of telecommunications
   technology, and indicate whether these applications might not be possible
   in the environment of new Universal Service subsidies. 

     ISDN is not as reliable as Frame Relay.  We had a lot of trouble, and
still do, keeping the circuits up.  It too a lot of close work with PacBell
and the datacomm equipment vendors to sort out problems.  If the new
Universal Service subsides do what we hope for we will be able to afford to
move away from ISDN and to Frame Relay.

#4:  	* What are specific areas in which ongoing projects might benefit 
   from new Universal Service subsidies? 

     We have several small districts that want internet connectivity, but
will not get it unless the new Universal Service subsidies require the phone
companies to provide that service at an affordable rate.

#5:  * Are there projects currently in the planning stages whose
   viability will depend upon the structure of new Universal Service
   subsidies? If so, indicate how the subsidies should be structured to
   assure the success of these new projects. 

     Basically the same answer as #4.  We are not actively planning, more
like waiting for the next major change in datacomm service, wether it be
Universal Service subsidies that may frame relay available, or it be some
type of wireless/satelite technology that becomes practical/affordable.


Kevin Conde
Technology Coordinator
Sutter County Superintendent of Schools Office
916-741-5115, x103

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