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Troy Firm Gives Marian High State's Fastest Web Access

For the 2010 school year the Troy-based Internet service provider Waveform Technology LLC is completing new fiber optic construction to provide gigabit Internet access to Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, along with Brother Rice High school and St. Regis School.

Gigabit Internet access is more than 160 times faster than Marian High School's old Internet connection and 650 times faster than a T1, giving Marian High School faster Internet access than any other private school in Michigan.

The new Internet access is provisioned over privately owned fiber built by Waveform Technology.

"This is as a pilot project for a larger community oriented construction schedule," said Waveform Technology representative Noel Montales. "Private schools don't have access to the same purchasing power as public school districts. We want to see how we can help these schools overcome this and have access to the bandwidth they need in a cost-effective manner. Fifteen years ago we helped break the price barrier on T1 circuits, making Waveform Technology the first to provide always-on dedicated Internet access to private schools in Metro Detroit. We hope to do that again for extremely fast Internet access."

Marian High School will use the faster Internet access to move to hosted applications for both school management systems and educational resources.

"This will allow us to access more state-of-the-art technology for schools, letting us explore video, simulations, and virtual educational technology opportunities," said Mark Hallman of Marian's technology department.

Hallman also said he used to tell teachers to limit their Internet use in the class room for fear of bogging down the old connection, but now the access to additional bandwidth will allow more concurrent use of interactive resources.

This construction project is just one of several ongoing expansions to Waveform Technology's fiber optic network.

Waveform Technology provides a wide range of data transport services to businesses, schools, and non-profits throughout southeast Michigan, using a 400 route mile fiber network.

More information is available at www.michigan-bandwidth.com or by calling (248) 784-7000.

Located in Bloomfield Hills, Marian is a Catholic college preparatory high school for young women sponsored by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

(c) 2010, WWJ Newsradio 950. All rights reserved.

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