CENIC Inks Contracts to Extend Networking to K-12 in All 58 California Counties.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2001

CENIC has selected Pacific Bell to install the equipment and circuits for 71 locations for California's new, world-class K-12 education telecommunications network, known as the Digital California Project, or DCP.

Cisco Systems is providing the equipment to Pacific Bell for the network. Verizon and Williams Communications were also selected to provide another 25 circuits to complete the network.

High-level representatives from Pacific Bell, Cisco Systems, Verizon and CENIC were present to sign contracts for more than $29 million. The ceremony was held at today's meeting of the DCP Steering Committee in Sacramento.

In appropriating funds for DCP in this year's budget, Governor Gray Davis and the Legislature declared that advanced service networks like the DCP are essential to the future of K-12 education in California. While other states have had statewide networks to serve K-12, the DCP will be the most robust developed to date.

The objective of the DCP is to create a statewide digital infrastructure to help prepare the next generation of students to become productive, knowledgeable workers and citizens with the skills to excel in the network-driven economy. Teachers and students throughout the State will use the DCP network to access rich educational resources and robust applications that are not possible using the commercial Internet.

Specifically, the DCP network plan extends the CalREN/4CNet infrastructure backbone into all 58 counties in the state by providing 13 DCP backbone hub sites strategically located regionally throughout California, and 71 primary access nodes, at least one in each county. Later, up to another 60 secondary access nodes may be added to DCP.

Under the terms of the contract, Pacific Bell will install the Cisco equipment at all access node sites and provision 71 high-speed leased lines necessary for the DCP network. The remaining 25 high-speed circuits were awarded to Verizon and Williams Communications.

CENIC, under contract with University of California, is responsible for planning, implementing and managing the DCP. CENIC has created a DCP Program Steering Committee with broad representation of the education community to guide various aspects of the DCP initiative from network design to content delivery.

CENIC is a not-for-profit corporation formed by the California Institute of Technology, the California State University, Stanford University, the University of California, and the University of Southern California to facilitate and coordinate the deployment, development, and operation of a set of seamless and robust advanced network services. The CENIC Associates program offers qualified companies the opportunity to collaborate with CENIC in pursuit of the goal of providing the most advanced network services for research and education. Cisco Systems, IBM, Pacific Bell and Sun Microsystems are CENIC's Founding Partner Associates; General Atomics and Raytheon are Affiliate Associates.

CalREN-2 is the first project of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), founded in 1997 by California's major research and academic universities. CENIC operates CalREN-2 for qualified public and private sector institutions for research and learning purposes. CalREN-2 is California's segment of the national Internet2 initiative and is partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

In the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the State of California provided funding for the Digital California Project, or DCP, which is CENIC's second project. The DCP creates a cohesive and seamless advanced services network interconnecting K-12 schools and institutions of higher education in California.

More information about CENIC, the DCP, and the CENIC Associates program can be found at www.cenic.org.