St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School in Smithton, Tasmania is the first school in Australia to be connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN) with iPrimus. The school’s NBN connection officially went live today at a special event attended by the Premier of Tasmania, David Bartlett, MP.
The milestone connection, which was announced today by the Catholic Education office in conjunction with its technology partners; iPrimus, Saturn Communications and Generation-E Hobart will facilitate interactive learning for the school’s 128 primary students.
Using its new iPrimus Extreme 100Mbps high speed NBN connection, St Peter Chanel’s students will now be able to take part in a range of online activities utilising technologies that were previously impossible with the schools current ADSL connection.
As part of this new scope students will be able to take part in High Definition (HD) video conferences with other classes and subject experts within Tasmania, interstate and overseas such as a joint learning program with students in the Northern Territory in a trial to see if such links can improve literacy skills for students in isolated communities.
Students will also be using the school’s iPads and laptops on its NBN connection for research, collaboration and access to a wide range of online resources.
The school’s high speed WAN was implemented by the project’s integrator, Saturn Communications.
The Premier of Tasmania, David Bartlett, MP said: “Thanks to the National Broadband Network, many more people including schools like St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary will have access to the kinds of services and applications previously only available to large companies buying dedicated infrastructure.
“Students in Smithton are already reaping the benefits of new learning opportunities, and by 2014 when Tasmania will be the most connected place on the planet, all of our school students will have these opportunities,” said David Bartlett, MP.
At the event, students demonstrated the benefits of having a much faster broadband connection including the ability to use:
• Online collaboration through Google Apps
• A virtual excursion with a diver on the Great Barrier Reef via HD Video Conference
• EKids, an online science resource for students in rural communities
• Publishing of podcasts and videos on the web
• Using iPads to do online research, for eBooks and a range of educational Apps
• Visualisers, digital microscopes and other technologies.
St Peter Chanel Primary School’s Principal Clynton Scharvi said: “It is really exciting that our school is at the forefront of the incredible new interactive learning capabilities enabled by next generation technologies like the NBN. The NBN is providing innovative ways in which our students can learn; that will expand their horizons for learning, sharing and discovering.”
Primus Australia CEO Ravi Bhatia said: “Connecting our first school to the NBN is a fantastic and significant milestone for Primus and Tasmania. The installation, configuration and connection of St Peter Chanel School’s NBN link went extremely well and there was excellent coordination and support Saturn Communications, our local partner in Tasmania. The deployment is a testament to the hard work and effort of everyone involved.”
Networking specialist Generation-E has supplied networking hardware including Juniper routers for the rollout of the new WAN in all of Tasmania’s Catholic primary schools including this implementation at St Peter Chanel School.
Anthony Morgan, Catholic Education Tasmania Deputy Director said: ““We are thrilled that the first Catholic school is going live on the NBN today. This kind of connectivity is particularly important for students in regional and remote schools because it brings them the same opportunities that students in larger centres have. It is essential for 21st Century learning.”
ENDS
About Primus Telecom and iPRIMUS
iPRIMUS is the residential services division of Primus Telecom, one of Australia’s largest telecommunications carriers offering a comprehensive range of high speed low latency broadband, mobile broadband, mobile services, data, Internet, web hosting and voice products, servicing both business and residential sectors. The Primus network provides nationwide coverage through its own backbone network with facilities in 66 cities and 286 DSLAM exchanges across Australia as well as three state of the art data centres in Sydney and Melbourne that allow Primus to offer Direct Connect services to residential and business customers. Primus operates its own fibre network in the five major capital cities, delivering a range of business direct-connect services including IP, Ethernet, ATM, ISDN, high speed broadband, data centre and inbound as well as outbound voice services .
Primus Australia news and information are available at the Company's website at www.iprimus.com.au
About Saturn Communications
Saturn Communications are an innovative ICT integrator, tailoring leading edge solutions and support for business. Commonly accepted as a market leader, Saturn’s team has 62 years collective experience in the IT & Telecommunications industries, currently managing services for all levels of business, ranging from Local Government, Education and small to medium enterprise. With the convergence between the Telecommunications and IT industries, Saturn’s customers benefit from having a single point of contact. Saturn delivers a broad range of ICT solutions, ranging from enterprise class IT Infrastructure design, high-performance IP networks to business Telecommunications solutions. Saturn’s consultative approach ensures that they firstly understand your operational requirements and business goals, before recommending only the most appropriate solutions.
For more information please visit www.saturncomms.com
About Generation-e
Generation-e is Australia’s leading IT infrastructure company. By converging voice and data on a single, secure network, we deliver powerful solutions that dramatically improve business efficiencies and mitigate risks. Our nationwide presence and experience allow us to offer solutions that encompass the full range of design, implementation, financing and support services.
The right technology, designed, installed and supported by experts:
Unified Communications – IP Telephony, Videoconferencing, Telepresence
High Performance Networking – WAN Acceleration, Security, Web/Email Filtering
Virtualisation – VMware, SAN/NAS Storage, Disaster Recovery, Thin Client Solutions
Visit Generation at www.generation-e.com.au
St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School in Smithton, Tasmania demonstrates its NBN connection David Bartlett, MP - Premier of Tasmania with students at St Peter Chanel School