Cox Business, Hospitality Network Announce
Contract
with Clark County School District
Company to provide broadband services to 266 area schools and
CCSD facilities
Cox Nevada Telcom, LLC, an affiliate of Cox Business,
LLC / Hospitality Network, Inc. (Cox BusinessHN) has announced plans
to provide fiber to develop a high-bandwidth wide area network
for the Clark County School District (CCSD). The wide area network,
or WAN, will link students, educators, parents and the community
via broadband and enable the CCSD to provide improved video,
data and telephone services throughout the nation's 6th largest
school district.
The Cox BusinessHN contract includes all schools and administrative facilities
located within Clark County and the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson,
North Las Vegas and Boulder City. A select number of CCSD schools
in outlying communities are not included in the contract.
"Our partnership with Cox BusinessHN will be a tremendous asset
to the Clark County School District and will result in significant
savings for the district over the life of the contract,"
said Superintendent Carlos A. Garcia. "We are looking forward
to making all the schools and facilities within the district
technologically efficient."
According to Dr. Philip Brody, chief technology officer for
the Clark County School District, Cox BusinessHN will provide the fiber
connectivity for the wide area network, or WAN, throughout the
district, which is capable of hosting several services, including
high-speed Internet access, video-on-demand and telephones in
every classroom.
"The utilization of Cox BusinessHN to provide the fiber system will
help us build a technology platform throughout the district
that will enable greater unity and efficiency," said Brody.
"For example, we will be able to install a phone with voice
mail in every classroom by utilizing the WAN instead of separate
phone lines, which was cost prohibitive. Teachers will enjoy
greater convenience in leaving recorded messages with homework
assignments, not to mention the security advantage of having
a phone in your classroom."
According to Brody, future abilities of the WAN include the
utilization of video-on-demand to allow educators to order curriculum
support video materials for immediate use, rather then having
to submit several steps of paperwork under the current process.
"Teachers and students will also have high-speed Internet
access for educational opportunities and be able to more efficiently
utilize e-mail to create a channel of communications between
students, teachers and parents," said Brody.
The Clark County School District is the nation's 6th largest
with approximately 245,000 students and 266 schools. Already,
seven schools within the district have the WAN installed as
part of a pilot technology program between Cox BusinessHN and the district.
Those schools include Beckley Elementary School, Hewetson Elementary
School, Paradise Elementary School, Ullom Elementary School,
Cortney Middle School, Knudson Middle School and Chaparral High
School.
Mary Alice Nielson, vice president and general manager of Cox
Business Services/Hospitality Network said the announcement
is a major step for the company, whose products primarily service
the gaming and hospitality industry, and many small, medium,
and large-size business in Southern Nevada.
"We are excited to provide the much-needed fiber for the
school district that will ultimately provide communications
and technology solutions to boost efficiency and educational
opportunities for approximately 270,000 teachers, students,
administrators and staff in the district," said Nielson.
In July 2001, Hospitality Network, Inc. joined with the newly
launched Cox Business, LLC affiliate of Cox Communications,
Inc., to market these services in Southern Nevada. The company
is headquartered in Henderson, Nev. Mary Alice Nielson is vice
president and general manager of the company, which is a subsidiary
of Cox Communications Las Vegas, Inc.
Cox BusinessHN has established itself as the leading provider of interactive
television to the gaming and hospitality industry with more
than 110,000 hotel rooms nationwide. In December 2001, the company
announced a partnership with Park Place Entertainment to provide
services at 18 Park Place Entertainment hotel/casinos properties
in four states.
Hospitality Network provides interactive services, communication
and entertainment to more than 110,000 hotels rooms in Las Vegas,
Reno and Laughlin, Nev., Atlantic City, N.J., Biloxi/Gulfport,
Miss., and the Bahamas, among others. The company was founded
in 1988.
Currently, Hospitality Network's in-room services include video
on-demand movies, free-to-guest programming channels, guest
interactive services such as folio review and check-in, internet
access through the guest room television and high-speed Internet
access for laptops and in-room appliances. The company is also
the largest provider of electronic in-room entertainment for
the hotel-casino industry.
Cox Business, LLC is the commercial broadband affiliate
of Cox Communications, Inc., providing full-service, facilities-based
telecommunications solutions to home offices; small, medium
and large-sized businesses; school districts; and hospitality,
government and military properties in cities across the nation.
Cox, itself and through its wholly-owned affiliates, offers
voice, video and Internet/data/web hosting products and services
to commercial and governmental customers.
Cox is Committed to Education
Cox Communications is committed to improving the quality
of life in the communities it serves and has long been viewed
as the premiere leader and provider of educational technology.
For more than 12 years, Cox has provided private and public
schools in its service areas with complimentary cable television
services via Cable in the Classroom. Today 3.5 million students
in 5,600 schools receive this free programming from Cox. In
1997, Cox began providing a complimentary high-speed Internet
connection and unique online events to schools via its Line
to Learning program, which is based on Cox' s belief in the
value of a high-speed learning connection to the classroom.
The award-winning Line to Learning program was created to provide
complimentary cable modems and Internet access to schools in
communities where the Cox network is fully upgraded. To date,
Cox has installed high-speed Internet access in 750 schools
in eighteen communities. Through its commercial affiliate, Cox
Business Services, the company also partners with school districts,
libraries and universities in its service areas to build high-bandwidth
wide area networks that link students, educators, parents and
the community via broadband.