FirstLight Solutions Enrich Overall Performance for Greater Johnstown School District

ALBANY, NY--(Marketwired - May 11, 2017) - FirstLight, a leading fiber-optic bandwidth infrastructure services provider operating in the Northeast, announced today that the Greater Johnstown School District has selected FirstLight to provide Internet connectivity to schools throughout the City of Johnstown, located in Fulton County, New York. The Greater Johnstown School District is accredited by the New York State Education Department, and serves approximately 1,800 students in pre-K through 12th grade. FirstLight's Internet and dark fiber WAN services will enable network connectivity for the school district and four administrative buildings.

FirstLight's dark fiber service offers the school district fully scalable, dedicated, private, physical network infrastructure to all of its remote sites, while FirstLight's Internet service enables direct, dedicated, symmetrical connectivity accessible to all within the school district. Upon putting out a request for bids in 2016 for Internet and WAN services, the Greater Johnstown School District ultimately selected FirstLight for its premier, cost-effective services and notable recommendations from other school districts in the region. FirstLight also stood out as one of the few providers that could offer the school district the viable dark fiber solution it sought.

"By moving our Internet and WAN connections to FirstLight, we are able to bring increased bandwidth to our stakeholders," commented Rachel Heroth, Director of Technology for the Greater Johnstown School District. "This allows our students and staff to effectively access web-based software that supports and enhances instruction. In the months since we began using FirstLight's services, we have seen a marked improvement in performance. We believe that our network connections should never stand in the way of learning, and FirstLight's services have allowed us to see that vision through, across all buildings within our district."

As a result of working with FirstLight, the Greater Johnstown School District has experienced greatly improved connectivity with zero instances of buffering or downtime. The district is preparing to increase its contracted bandwidth with FirstLight in the future as more devices enter student hands, and more of its curriculum becomes web-based.

"Today's school districts have a growing need for better, faster connectivity solutions that not only will enhance learning and overall performance for students, faculty and administrators alike, but that also allow for easy bandwidth upgrades when needed," stated Patrick Coughlin, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for FirstLight. "FirstLight is proud to be the Internet and dark fiber provider for the Greater Johnstown School District and several other school districts throughout New York and Northern New England."

FirstLight provides a comprehensive portfolio of secure, scalable, E-rate eligible telecommunications solutions combined with a knowledgeable staff experienced in working with K-12 districts and libraries to support advanced voice/VoIP, multicast, video and distance learning applications for single and multi-site institutions.

Learn more at http://www.firstlight.net. 

About FirstLight

FirstLight, headquartered in Albany, New York, provides fiber-optic data, Internet, data center and voice services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast connecting more than 5,000 locations in service with an additional 20,000 locations serviceable by our 9,600 route mile network. FirstLight offers a robust suite of advanced telecommunications products featuring a comprehensive portfolio of high bandwidth connectivity solutions including Ethernet, wavelength and dark fiber services as well as dedicated Internet access solutions, data center, cloud and voice services. FirstLight's clientele includes national cellular providers and wireline carriers and many leading enterprises, spanning high tech manufacturing and research, hospitals and healthcare, banking and financial, secondary education, colleges and universities, and local and state governments.

To learn more about FirstLight, visit www.firstlight.net, or follow the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the Greater Johnstown School District

The Greater Johnstown School District is a public school accredited by the NYS Education Department, serving approximately 1,800 students in universal pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The dedicated staff strives to provide each child with a quality education and to foster in them the ability to be critical and creative thinkers, problem-solvers, responsible citizens and life-long learners.

The school district consists of six buildings: Pleasant Avenue Elementary (pre-k, kindergarten and first grade); Glebe Street Elementary (second and third grades); Warren Street Elementary (fourth, fifth and sixth grades); Knox Junior High (seventh and eighth grades); Johnstown High School (ninth through twelfth grades); and Jansen Avenue School, which hosts new, creative and innovative educational programs, including The Learning Project and HFM BOCES Regional P-Tech (Pathways in Technology Early College High School).

All of our buildings are carefully maintained, with well-equipped media centers and computer labs. The Knox Junior High complex boasts the venerable Knox Field, an interscholastic stadium featuring lights and a field turf surface, suitable for a wide variety of athletic events. Johnstown High School hosts the district's indoor pool, lighted tennis courts and the Johnstown High School Performing Arts Center, a stunning, modern, state-of-the-art auditorium for musical and theatrical events.

Visit http://www.johnstownschools.org/ to learn more.