DQE Comm. Brings Fiber Network to School Districts in Western PA

PITTSBURGH, PA — ARIN Intermediate Unit 28 (IU28) has selected DQE Communications (DQE) to provide its member school districts with high-speed internet services. DQE is the premier provider of high-speed, fiber optic networks for businesses and carriers throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio and Northern West Virginia. The partnership will see DQE establish a purpose-built, fully owned, operated and maintained fiber-optic network across all participating schools. Set to be fully implemented in the third quarter of 2019, DQE’s solution will offer significantly improved internet access for teachers and students making use of updated and emergent technologies.

ARIN Intermediate Unit provides a Regional Wide Area Network (RWAN) for schools within the Armstrong and Indiana counties of Pennsylvania. Recently, the entity’s management team determined that the legacy networking solutions it relies on cannot meet the evolving bandwidth needs of ARIN and the 11 school districts and 2 technical schools it serves. In fact, today one school district in Indiana County operates on wireless networks dependent on microwave transmission. Consequently, IU28 recently ran a Request for Proposal (RFP) process that DQE participated in and won.

Streamlining the connection of all participating schools under one network infrastructure will provide access to a reliable, fast network with increased security backed by service level agreements.  The partnership also allows DQE to expand its network over 40 miles in Armstrong and Indiana Counties. DQE is implementing high quality, enterprise broadband where it does not currently exist today. As a result, this will provide opportunities for regional economic development and future growth within this more rural area.