Davis County School
Denver Public Schools
Native American Reservations
State of Wyoming
Utah Education Network

State of Wyoming

Overview

Although Wyoming is the ninth largest state, covering 97,818 square miles, it is also the least populated state. Its rugged mountains and vast plains separate its sparse population, and weather extremes make travel treacherous, time-consuming, and expensive.

Today, with help from Qwest's advanced telecommunications services, 97 percent of the state's population lives within a 50 mile radius of a videoconference station.

Background

Recognizing the unique needs of the state's rural population, Wyoming officials set these primary objectives for upgrading the state's information network:

• providing Wyoming citizens access to government information within and beyond state borders
• enhancing legislature and constituent communications
• serving governmental, private industry and education interests
• providing students access to a wide variety of courses

Solution

State officials concluded that distance education would become the primary focus of a far-reaching in-state videoconferencing network. Courses not ordinarily available to students at community colleges would be routinely taught in a video environment connecting up to ten sites simultaneously.

To meet these needs, Qwest recommended a VTEL video-conferencing system to connect the university, community colleges, select community education centers, K-12 schools, and government facilities. VTEL Corporation, designers of the hardware solution, is a leader in the design and manufacture of SmartVideoconferencing systems, featuring PC-based architecture, ease of use, and applications-oriented solutions.

The technology includes two VTEL Multipoint Control Units, satellite downlink capability, an Inverse Multiplexer to facilitate out-of-state connectivity, and a gateway allowing video equipment to operate at rates less than 384 Kbps.

Once the technology was successfully deployed, the state quickly realized that there were a host of additional uses of the network, including:

• The National Guard Bureau funded the Cheyenne Starbase Academy to extend its math and science enhancement videoconference program to fifth and sixth grade students statewide.
• The Wyoming Military Academy was able to connect to sites in Oklahoma and Virginia in a pilot program to train soldiers in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming via compressed video.
• A Wyoming judge used the state's compressed video system to enable a witness located in Florida to testify during a jury trial. The system facilitated successful two-way, interactive questioning and cross-examination of the witness.

Conclusions

Not only is videoconferencing seen by Wyoming officials as an effective way to communicate, but the solutions is seen as a cost-savings tool as well. Annually, Wyoming saves over $700,000 in travel time, mileage, and per diem costs by using compressed video technology.

Nevertheless, state officials expect the ultimate payoff to be a truly democratic medium to improve educational, commercial and governmental activities within the state and throughout the country.