FiberLight, LLC has announced a 70-mile network expansion in Amarillo, Texas to serve the Amarillo Independent School District (AISD) and the greater Amarillo business community with high-speed fiber services.

AISD will leverage FiberLight’s dark fiber network, to reliably expand the school district’s digital capabilities across its 58 locations serving over 33,000 students. This build will help boost AISD’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education offerings and provide students access to emerging educational technologies in preparation for college and STEM careers. The 70-mile network expansion will also technologically equip all 58 locations to support key initiatives for AISD including data processing, video conferencing from Amarillo’s Region 16 Education Service Center, and a surge of connected smart devices including 19,000 Chromebooks, 14,000 iPads, and 13,000 desktops/laptops.

“The goal of AISD is to prepare students for life beyond high school, making college readiness top-of-mind. Reliable connectivity is critical for gaining access to classroom technology that takes college preparedness to new levels,” comments Jeff D. Roller, CTO, AISD. “Through our partnership with FiberLight, we feel confident in achieving our goals.”

FiberLight’s network expansion is set to transform costs, quality, and value for AISD, offering faster speeds, minimized latency, and more scalable bandwidth at no additional costs. The development is fully covered as part of the FCC’s E-Rate program.

“FiberLight’s network expansion throughout Amarillo will not only benefit AISD, but the local business community as well,” adds Don MacNeil, chief executive officer, FiberLight. “The 70-mile network expansion will provide high-speed Internet access and networking capabilities to larger cities in the Texas Panhandle including Lubbock, Midland, and Odessa, enhancing industry capabilities across healthcare (telehealth), agriculture (agritech), banking and finance, and oil and gas.”