Sophisticated school network extends to wider community

Telford and Wrekin district council has developed one of the most advanced public broadband networks in the world.

Since 1998 the council has built a high-speed infrastructure connecting all the area's schools and giving every child and teacher their own email and password.

The council's intranet also offers secure content and applications, such as an integrated video-conferencing service for school-to-school links.

What started as an education network is now expanding into the wider community, says Graham Foster, the council's deputy director of education.

'We completed the network a couple of years ago and we have finished the first phase - public sector access for kids and teachers.

'The next phase is small and medium-sized businesses and other public agencies like public care trusts,' said Foster.

Because the infrastructure is already in place, the only price is the communications cost.

'Bringing new users online is incredibly cheap because we can just plug them into the network,' said Foster.

There are significant benefits for the town, he says.

The network will improve trading, help social exclusion, increase the skills of the workforce and help the economy of the town.'