Cabletron Teams With Pinellas County Schools to Bring Network Connectivity to Relocatable Classrooms

Business Wire, Jan 20, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

ROCHESTER, N.H. and LARGO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2000

Pinellas County School District Chooses Cabletron's RoamAbout

Solutions to Network Relocatable Classrooms

Cabletron Systems (NYSE:CS) today announced that Pinellas County School District, the 21st largest school district in the United States, has selected Cabletron's RoamAbout wireless solutions to connect modular classrooms with its main academic buildings. The new solution provides Pinellas with extended connectivity through a cost-effective and flexible alternative to fiber optic cabling, delivering students and faculty network access to benefit virtually every aspect of the school district's curriculum.

&uot;In many schools across the nation, educators are finding the need for modular or relocatable classrooms to accommodate fluctuating student populations,&uot; explains Paula Krisa, senior systems analyst at Pinellas County School District. &uot;At Pinellas, the integration of technology into the curriculum is crucial to our students' education, no matter where their classroom is located. The situation creates a need to bring network connectivity to the remote sites in a timely, flexible and affordable fashion.&uot;

The school district partnered with Cabletron Systems to implement a solution that would address their needs. Their main concern was to create a flexible and fluid extension of their network that could easily accommodate the rigorous demands of an ever-changing, dynamic environment. Cabletron's RoamAbout building-to-building wireless solution proved to be the answer.

&uot;With Cabletron's RoamAbout wireless products, we can move the equipment with the relocatable classrooms, allowing us to better manage our resources, deploy network access more rapidly, and protect our initial investment,&uot; said Krisa.

&uot;Cabletron understands that the needs of schools in the twenty-first century are constantly changing,&uot; says Robert Anderson, senior director of enterprise solutions at Cabletron Systems. &uot;Our RoamAbout wireless solutions enable educational facilities like Pinellas to extend their network connectivity without the expensive installation or re-routing of fixed cabling runs, while simultaneously providing a versatile network environment that can easily be altered as the needs of the schools change.&uot;

About Pinellas County School District

Located in the middle of Florida's west coast, Pinellas County School District is the 21st largest district in the United States, and the seventh largest in Florida. The district serves all of Pinellas County with its 142 elementary, middle, high, and specialty public schools. Pinellas County School District can be found online at www.pinellas.k12.fl.us.

About Cabletron Systems

Cabletron Systems, a premier provider of world-class networking solutions, delivers reliable network access and communications to millions of people worldwide. With scalable products designed for Global 1000 enterprise networks, service providers and small businesses, Cabletron is the e-business communications specialist in the Internet economy. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange for more than a decade under the symbol CS, Cabletron is an S& 500 index company. Cabletron's web site can be reached on the Internet at www.cabletron.com.