Why Cbeyond

Customer Stories

Safe, Secure, and Always Reliable

About the Atlanta Catholic Schools

Office of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta oversees 21 schools
Serves 8,100 elementary school and 2,300 high school students
Individual schools operate with a degree of autonomy

Download the full case study

Business Challenges

Replace a costly, unstable Frame Relay connection on a traditional phone network
Increase autonomy and operating efficiencies at each school
Create a fast, mobile voice and data network

Results with Cbeyond

Reduced monthly network, telecommunications, and support costs
Delivered constant, reliable connectivity across the schools
Facilitated communications between teachers, students, and parents

The Office of Catholic Schools (OCS) in the Archdiocese of Atlanta oversees 18 elementary schools in the city. Nine of the schools shared a Frame Relay connection to provide their telephone services, but the system proved unreliable, causing slow response times, a loss of productivity, high maintenance costs, and heightened security risks. Cbeyond identified three primary challenges:

Replace the Frame Relay connection. Hard to maintain and consistently undependable, the current system couldn't meet the needs of the schools.
Increase autonomy and operating efficiencies at each school. The shared system gave the individual schools limited control over their own budgets and operations.
Create a reliable, fast, and mobile voice and data network. Converging voice, data, and Internet communications into one integrated system would improve communications between teachers, students, and parents.

"With Cbeyond's 'single point of contact' for all networking issues, the school's junior technologist is no longer required to spend hours on the phone troubleshooting a line or router problem without expertise. This administrative overhead is simply no longer necessary."

Daniel Shaffer
President of Snap Technology, Inc.
IT services partner to the Office of Catholic Schools (OCS) in the Archdiocese of Atlanta

The Cbeyond Solution

The Office of Catholic Schools turned to its trusted IT services partner, Snap Technology, Inc., to update its network infrastructure. Recognizing the value of converging voice, data, and Internet communications into one system, Snap invited Cbeyond to propose a managed IP Communications platform. Six of the nine schools on the old Frame Relay service chose to adopt Cbeyond's solution.

Using voice over IP (VoIP) and a 100% Cisco network, Cbeyond provided each of the six schools with an integrated package of high-quality local and long-distance telephony services; high-quality, symmetric T1 Internet access; and Web-based business productivity tools.
Cisco's Internet Access Device (IAD) merged voice communications from the schools' phone systems and IP data traffic from their LAN, then passed all traffic in IP format to Cbeyond's private, managed IP network.
The Cisco wireless access points on laptop carts allow staff to put a laptop on every child's desk - no cables needed.

Results and Benefits

Since the Cisco/Cbeyond VoIP solution has been in place, the staff, students, and parents at the six Atlanta Catholic schools have realized tremendous benefits.

Each school on the new system saves $500-1,500 a month, depending on its package, and gains a much faster Internet connection.
The managed services voice and data network and managed IP Communications solution minimize maintenance costs while maximizing productivity.
Cisco's equipment and Cbeyond's network provide unparalleled reliability to the schools, which have enjoyed 100% network availability, and have not required a single maintenance call.