DQE Communications Brings Fiber-Optic Network to School Districts in Western PA

DQE Communications (DQE), has been contracted by ARIN Intermediate Unit 28 (IU28) to provide its member school districts with high-speed internet services. DQE is the premier provider of high-speed, fiber optic networks for businesses and carriers throughout Southwestern PA, Eastern OH and Northern WV. The partnership will see DQE establish a purpose-built, fully owned, operated and maintained fiber-optic network across all participating schools. Set to be fully implemented in the third quarter of 2019, DQE’s solution will offer significantly improved internet access for teachers and students making use of updated and emergent technologies.

ARIN Intermediate Unit provides a Regional Wide Area Network (RWAN) for schools within the Armstrong and Indiana counties of Pennsylvania. Recently, the entity’s management team determined that the legacy networking solutions it relies on cannot meet the evolving bandwidth needs of ARIN and the 11 school districts and 2 technical schools it serves. In fact, today one school district in Indiana County operates on wireless networks dependent on microwave transmission. Consequently, IU28 recently ran a Request for Proposal (RFP) process that DQE participated in and won.

“During our RFP process, DQE clearly stood out with the best offer,” says James Wagner, Executive Director of IU 28. “Because DQE will wholly own and operate the network, providing each participating entity with an initial 10Gbps connection, our school districts and CTCs will finally have the freedom needed to bring educational programming, testing and collaboration fully into the digital age. Additionally, having DQE as our one point of contact for issue resolution will greatly improve the efficiency with which our ongoing needs get addressed. This partnership marks the first time in our IU’s history that a vendor will own and operate the entire system. We look forward to fully implementing our new internet solution later this year.”

Streamlining the connection of all participating schools under one network infrastructure will provide access to a reliable, fast network with increased security backed by service level agreements.  The partnership also allows DQE to expand its network over 40 miles in Armstrong and Indiana Counties. DQE is implementing high quality, enterprise broadband where it does not currently exist today. As a result, this will provide opportunities for regional economic development and future growth within this more rural area.

To learn more about DQE Communications, visit the company’s website at www.dqecom.com.