Indianapolis Public Schools Chooses Utah Scientific for Facility Upgrade

Indianapolis Public Schools Television has installed three Utah
Scientific routers and the company’s SC-4 control system to support production,
videoconferencing, distance learning, training opportunities, and community
programming in the district that serves 35,000 students spread among 79 buildings.
Located in a central facility in the Indiana
capital, the district’s television operation feeds 70 channels to the school
system, which is the largest in
Indiana,
as well as two channels to communitywide cable television.

The new UTAH-400 HD router, expanded UTAH-300 analog video
router, and UTAH-400/Data router are part of a phased-in facilitywide upgrade
to HD prompted in part by the ambitions of the school system’s training program
for students seeking careers in broadcast engineering.

Indianapolis Public Schools’ Chief Information Officer
Dorothy Crenshaw has a technology mission, “To provide resources and
support that enable educators to engage students in rich, real-world learning
experiences so that they can meet academic and technology standards and
participate successfully in the global digital environment.” This includes
providing student interns with the opportunity to use up-to-date HD equipment,
ultimately making them more employable in the industry.

Jeff Walker, Indianapolis Public Schools Television chief
engineer, said he was very pleased with the easy installation of the Utah
Scientific equipment, which went live earlier this year. “Utah Scientific
allowed me to do a lot of configuration before they sent the routers, which was
extremely helpful,” he said. “By the time the routers arrived, all we
had to do was plug them in, and we could start routing signals. In addition,
the
Utah
engineers on site were very helpful and committed to understanding my
network.”

Indianapolis Public Schools Television selected Utah
Scientific equipment for the upgrade in part because of the district’s previous
experience with a hard-working and reliable Utah AVS-2 router. More selling
points included
Utah’s
3-GHz HD card, powerful enough to handle future expansion, and GUI-based
softpanel routing control. The latter feature is so easy to use that a Spanish
teacher in one of the district’s four TV studios can teach four elementary
school classes remotely while simultaneously acting as her own master control operator.

“Like the Indianapolis
schools, many educational institutions embarking on upgrades are relying on
Utah equipment,”
said Tom Harmon, president and CEO of Utah Scientific. “Schools are
accountable to taxpayers, which makes them tough customers. Their choice of
Utah is testimony to the
durable equipment we sell and to its cost-effective operation.”