Education & Distance Learning Enthusiasts- Army Taps Sprint For Video Distance Learning Network

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Army Taps Sprint For Video Distance Learning Network

Newsbytes News Network - November 18, 1996

WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 NOV 18 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha. Drill sergeants will only be a computer screen away once the United States Army's Video Tele-Training Network is completed. The Army has awarded Sprint [NYSE:FON] a contract to install the 118-site video network that will provide state-of-the-art distance learning technology for the United States Army, Department of Defense, and other government agencies.

The five-year Video Tele-Training Network (VTT) contract, awarded by the Army Training and Doctrine Command, is valued at nearly $50 million, Sprint's Army Account Manager Greg Taylor told Newsbytes, and represents the largest dedicated distance learning network in the United States government.

Installation of the network is expected to begin immediately.

According to Taylor, the turnkey network will include terrestrial and satellite components and "will offer the flexibility of permanent, deployable and mobile equipment so education, training, and other two- way video applications can be brought to users throughout the United States and at sites overseas."

Taylor said the VTT network is designed to meet the educational and training needs of uniformed and civilian personnel, their units and commands, allowing soldiers in remote locations to attend classes originating from one site, and fully interact with the instructor and one another using video and data.

Additionally, Taylor told Newsbytes, video applications can be delivered directly to the battlefield via mobile or deployable units.

The network also will be marketed to the other military services, including the Navy, Air Force, and Marines, Taylor said, as well as to other government agencies.

The use of distance learning technology saves the government money by reducing travel and per diem costs, and provides a more effective allocation of personnel and resources, Taylor said.

Sprint will install and operate equipment at all network sites and the Network Control Center at Fort Eustis, Virginia, Taylor said. The company will manage the network and deploy mobile or portable units as required. Various elements of the network in the United States and abroad can be connected to each other, and to other networks, through the Network Control Center via satellite services, high capacity dedicated lines and the Sprint Switched Data Service.

Sprint's switched data service (SDS) will allow each site to dial into the network from 64 kilobits-per-second (Kbps) up to 1.44 megabits-per- second (Mbps), depending on their need, Taylor said.

Sprint's associates in this contract are Commercial Satellite Systems Inc. (CSSI) and VTEL Inc.

In August, Taylor said, Sprint and CSSI were selected to provide video teleconferencing equipment and earth stations for the training of soldiers in Hungary, Germany, and Macedonia, remotely from the United States as part of the VTT network.

(19961118/Press Contact: James Fisher, Sprint, 202-828-7451, Internet e-mail James.W.Fisher@SprintA1.Sprint.Com)

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