home with wifi

Motorola Solutions' Nitro network extends secure, reliable and fast LTE into community to seamlessly connect students to at-home lessons and programming


Belpre, Ohio, - January 25, 2021- Belpre City Schools is deploying a private broadband solution to provide students with secure and reliable access to online lessons, streaming video and other data-rich programming. The schools are using state funding designated for coronavirus relief for the initial deployment, which will extend access to their network to students in areas where many households lack internet access. The school will also provide laptops for use on the network.

“Our main goals are to ensure that all of our students stay safe and keep learning, whether that means they are attending classes online and at home, in school or via a hybrid model,” said Jeffrey Greenley, superintendent, Belpre City Schools. “The decision to invest our state funding in technology that will better position our students for successful distance learning was easy. We will do whatever we can to keep them on track with coursework during this challenging time.”

The schools selected a private broadband network from Motorola Solutions called Nitro, because it is quickly and easily deployed and extended into the community with scalable capacity and range. Each student is provided with a modem and router that connects them directly into the schools’ network, which gives the schools control over who access the networks and the content that students consume via their existing firewalls and content-filtering tools.

“We want to set our students up for long-term success, and after the pandemic, they will continue to need access to the Internet for homework and research that happens outside the classroom,” said Matt Morris, technology coordinator, Belpre City Schools. “Private broadband through Motorola Solutions was the best choice for us because the network has the flexibility and capacity to grow with us. Right now, our focus is on distance learning, but down the road, a solution like this could be integrated with other technologies to provide backhaul for school bus cameras or help administrators track them, allow security personnel to monitor camera feeds and help staff communicate more efficiently across devices.”

 

The first phase of the deployment is complete and available for use by some students at the beginning of 2021.