CACHEBOX gold priceless in Yukon
ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Yukon-Koyukuk School District (YKSD) in Alaska has purchased multiple CACHEBOXes to boost e-learning across its remote locations, overcoming prohibitive satellite bandwidth costs.
The district has long advocated technology in the classroom, recognising its potential to keep its 3,000 students in line with national learning levels. By 2017, YKSD’s investment in Chromebooks saw 1:1 rolled out to every student across its elementary, middle and high schools to maximise the benefits of independent learning.
However, in its very remote location, internet access is only available via costly satellite links. Just 10Mbps for one school costs $16k each month. In needing 10, YKSD is forced to pay more than $2m annually!
But with an average of 150 users at each site needing access to learning games, video and media-rich content on such narrow connections, all experience regular congestion. Simultaneous classroom demand for lesson content simply overwhelms the links, leaving students with very slow web access – or on occasion, none at all.
Having tried various methods of controlling e-learning access without success, Technology Coordinator Brad Kennon joined a caching webinar to learn more.
Seeing CACHEBOX’s unmatched ability to store and serve all types of popular school content locally, Brad learned he could improve the learning experience despite the cost and capacity barriers. With CACHEBOX costing less than the district spends on bandwidth in a single week, YKSD quickly ordered 9 appliances.
The district is delighted not to have to rely on bandwidth alone, and avoid vast pay-outs for more capacity. The school newsletter has already shared the good news to its isolated communities, “We are continuing to visit every school and install Appliansys CACHEBOXes to help alleviate bandwidth congestion. We’ve seen bandwidth savings of up to almost 68%. We’re excited to roll these out districtwide so everyone can enjoy the benefits.”
“The costs saved in avoiding bandwidth upgrades are huge, but the expected impact on learning outcomes from YKSD new levels of user experience may prove priceless,” says Sergio Villegas CACHEBOX Consultant.
About
Yukon-Koyukuk School District (YKSD) operates 10 public schools across a remote area of Alaska bigger than 47 of the 50 states of America. District-wide, YKSD serves over 1,400 full-time students. Travel to eight of its ten communities is by small aircraft only. Just two communities are accessible by a remote road system.