Telecom facilities enabling distance learning

Thanks to a partnership between the local telephone companies and the state, South Carolina was the first state in the nation to have 100% of its libraries connected to the internet.

With funding from the state, the SCInet project connects 1,257 schools and 180 libraries to each other and allows them access to the internet and other electronic services.

Video Services for distant learning and video conferencing are available to all areas of South Carolina. The video conferencing user community includes State Technical Colleges, Major Universities, Government Agencies, and K-12. Video is offered at several speeds and at different qualities. 384Kbs-compressed video offers a quality medium of delivery at very low cost. The video conferencing community also has available to it full motion video at 6Mb MPEGII and the ability to conference the two together. This video service is installed in over 30 High Schools, Colleges, Universities, and Businesses, and is available to all areas of the State through the ATM technology offered by the Local Exchange Carriers. These services are also capable of web based scheduling.

Another project that is working well in South Carolina is a distance learning network called the Beacon Project in the Rock Hill area. This is a full motion video network using ATM switching and fiber transport to connect High Schools, Technical Colleges, and Universities in the area to each other the rest of the state and nation. This project has also received a great amount of regional attention for South Carolina.

Other areas with full motion video network capabilities in place include Horry County, Berkley County and the Piedmont Technical College.

The South Carolina Research Institutions are connected today with broadband ATM and other broadband capabilities to offer high-speed interaction with each other on research projects. They are also connected to the Southern Cross Roads at Georgia Tech. With this connection at the 155Mbs speed they have access to all the Universities in the Southeast. This Project is known as the VBNS Network.

Telecom facilities for persons with disabilities and home-bound persons. South Carolina through a state and private partnership operates a Telephone Relay Service for the stateÕs hearing impaired and hard of hearing citizens. This unique system provides an around the clock relay call center to provide telephone calling services to and from hearing impaired persons. In a typical call the relay operator reads aloud words typed and transmitted electronically by a deaf person and then immediately transcribes the hearing personÕs spoken response, which appears on the text screen of the deaf caller.

This system, which has been in place for several years, is adapting new technology as changes come on board, to provide video relay services in the future.