GILROY
– Nearly every Web surfer has, at one point or another, sat at
the computer and stared blankly at the screen while waiting for a
page or file to download. For local students, an improved Internet
connection now links them to information and research many times
faster than before.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Nearly every Web surfer has, at one point or another, sat at the computer and stared blankly at the screen while waiting for a page or file to download. For local students, an improved Internet connection now links them to information and research many times faster than before.
Also, intra-district communication and file-sharing flows more quickly, thanks to a high-tech connection between schools and the district office.
The 1.5 megabit-per-second (Mb) Internet connection within Gilroy Unified School District was upgraded last week to 11.5 Mb, according to Rob van Herk, manager of Information Technology. In comparison, dial-up access through a regular phone line is usually 56 kilobits per second.
GUSD added a 10 Mb connection through the San Benito County Office of Education, in addition to its existing 1.5 Mb line to the Santa Clara County Office of Education. GUSD will keep the connection to this county’s office to maintain access to educational information.
While the former connection speed held the district back, the current connection is so big that it won’t be filled, van Herk said.
“It’s really a benefit for the students to go on the Internet and do research immediately,” van Herk said.
The new line, purchased using a digital technology grant, is not the only recent technology improvement. A fiber optic connection now links almost every GUSD school, the district office and even city hall.
Now, instead of each school storing information individually, the district will have one large server that each school can access or use to store things like educational programs or testing data for individual students.
Fiber connections, with the right equipment, can have a 1 gigabyte – or virtually unlimited – connection capability, so administrators at school sites and the district office can exchange information much more easily, van Herk said.
“We can build on this now, a lot, by putting in more programs and more sharing of information,” van Herk said.
Van Herk was pleased that the district’s Internet and data sharing capabilities have been called a “Fortune 500 solution.”
Rucker Elementary School, located in northeast Gilroy, is the only school lacking the new connection. GUSD is getting a quote on the cost for upgrading the connection to 54 Mb and could do that using Measure J funds, van Herk said.
