Lit and Dark Fiber for K-12 Districts
Velocity Fiber provides dedicated strands of lit and dark fiber for school districts, and our Wide Area Network (WAN) solutions are designed to help districts grow minds rather than network costs. Our goal is to be the most cost-effective network solution over the long term, while providing districts with the robust fiber infrastructure necessary to unlock digital learning and prepare the next generation for college and careers in a globally connected world.
According to the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the top drivers for bandwidth growth are more students with devices (and more devices per student), digital content, online assessments and streaming content. Whether your district’s bandwidth demands align with CoSN’s findings or you are seeing more bandwidth demand from embedded formative assessments, maker spaces or game based learning models, with Velocity Fiber, your district will have the fiber infrastructure in place to provide students with a world class education.
In addition, Velocity Fiber’s WANs are specifically designed for K-12 districts to leverage the Second E-rate Modernization Order of 2014 including pricing options with and without Special Construction, and we work with K-12 school districts that have access to and plan to utilize state matching funds.
Let's Connect!
As a result, with our lit or dark fiber networks, districts are able to cost effectively meet or exceed the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)’s recommendation of at least 10 Gbps per 1000 users for WAN access, and thanks to our progressive WAN bandwidth upgrade options, districts can rest easy knowing they have a pathway to increase network speeds without ever increasing monthly recurring costs.
States We Can Serve K-12 Districts
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
PROGRESSIVE PRICING MODEL
Increase your speed from 1 to 100 Gbps and light additional fiber strands all without ever increasing your monthly bill. In fact, your monthly recurring cost could drop 50% or more after the initial term with cumulative savings really adding up.
Our WAN Advantage
Each district edge location connects to a hub site of your choosing with twelve (12) strands of managed leased lit fiber, leased dark fiber or IRU dark fiber dedicated to your district. All Velocity Fiber WANs are high availability and high performance network solutions that support multicast and are low latency with minimal packet loss and reduced jitter.
K-12 Fiber Network Services
No matter whether you decide on lit or dark fiber, each Velocity Fiber network solution provides tremendous scalability and agility including a road map to virtually unlimited WAN bandwidth without ever increasing your monthly price.
Velocity Fiber delivers dedicated fiber strands to district locations and provides the electronics to light the fiber. Leases are typically 3 – 10 years and sometimes include district requested optional extension terms. All necessary services including monitoring and Maintenance and Operations (M&O) are included in the monthly price.
Leased dark fiber is very similar to our lit fiber service. Generally speaking, from a hardware standpoint, the only difference between our lit and dark fiber is that the district provides the electronics necessary to light the fiber. Velocity Fiber takes care of all M&O of the fiber Outside Plant (OSP), and the district has complete control over the network traffic.
Typical lease terms range between 5 and 20 years and may or may not include district requested optional extension terms. Leased dark fiber networks are ideal for school districts that desire control and flexibility of dedicated fiber without a large upfront cost or the responsibility for maintaining the outside fiber plant. Velocity Fiber’s dark fiber solutions are actually slightly less per month than lit fiber since the customer provides the electronics to light the fiber.
From a technical standpoint, IRU dark fiber is the same as leased dark fiber. Velocity Fiber still takes care of all M&O, and the school district provides the electronics to light dedicated fiber strands and has complete control of the network traffic. Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) term lengths are usually 10 – 20 years and are well suited for organizations that prefer to make a large non-recurring payment upfront to secure rights to the fiber network and then pay a reduced monthly to cover M&O.
If your school district owns your own fiber network already, Velocity Fiber can still maintain your fiber OSP infrastructure and customize an M&O solution that meets your objectives and budget. As is standard in the industry, we partner with OSP contractors across the country to service the outside fiber plant and serve as our local presence in the market. Then, we proactively monitor your network 24x7x365 from redundant network operation centers (NOCs) and are available to identify, diagnose and remediate faults.
Our Fiber WAN Highlights
True Scalability
Increase WAN speeds whenever you need to without ever increasing your monthly bill.
Dedicated Fiber
12 strands of fiber delivered to each district edge site for the district’s exclusive use.
Customer Control
As much control over the WAN as the district desires, with an experienced support team if you ever need us.
Security
Inherent security thanks to dedicated fiber that never passes through a 3rd party facility.
Reliability
Brand new fiber infrastructure with the absolute minimum possible points of failure.
Spare Equipment
Spare SFP modules to get you back online in less time than it takes to enter a trouble ticket.
Our Management Team
Over 100 years of combined telecom experience and a culture centered around being easy to work with, trustworthy, and the type of service provider customers are happy to call a partner.
Free conversation. Invaluable information.
Perfect for forward thinking K-12 school district leaders seeking solutions to impact an educational generation or longer.
