UNM-Gallup Networking to the South Campus at Zuni

UNM Infor­ma­tion Tech­nolo­gies (IT) is work­ing with Navajo Tech to extend high-speed net­work­ing to Zuni, build­ing on tech­nol­ogy used in the” Inter­net to the Hogan” project. On June 3, 2011, the Zuni Pueblo Coun­cil gave per­mis­sion to UNM to improve net­work­ing con­nec­tiv­ity at the UNMG Zuni facil­ity. Project plan­ning and work are under way to obtain appro­pri­ate per­mits, exe­cute engi­neer­ing reviews, esti­mate costs and pro­vide resources for the project.

This project will increase net­work­ing band­width from the cur­rent 1.5 mb (T1) con­nec­tion for all of the Zuni facil­ity to 155mb in the first phase. This will be com­pleted by Fall 2011 in coor­di­na­tion with the Zuni Pub­lic Schools. A sec­ond phase will increase band­width to 300mb and even­tu­ally 1gb, paving the way for reli­able deliv­ery of online classes deliv­ered through dis­tance edu­ca­tion tech­nolo­gies. This tech­nol­ogy enables wire­less access on the UNMG South Cam­pus at Zuni, within the Zuni Pub­lic Schools and the even­tual exten­sion of net­work­ing into the Zuni pueblo community.

This effort illus­trates the suc­cess­ful col­lab­o­ra­tion between Branch and Albu­querque cam­puses, and between the Navajo Nation and the Zuni Pueblo. This project also builds on the State and Uni­ver­sity invest­ments in tech­nol­ogy to enable K-20 edu­ca­tion, native com­mu­nity com­mu­ni­ca­tion and com­merce across the State. Projects such as this sup­port UNM stu­dents and fac­ulty wher­ever they are, thereby sup­port­ing New Mex­ico com­mu­ni­ties and eco­nomic development.

For addi­tional infor­ma­tion, con­tact Dr. Sylvia Andrew, direc­tor of the UNM Gallup Branch, at sandrew@unm.edu or (505) 863‑7500.

Media con­tact: Vanessa Baca (505) 277‑0987; vjbaca1@unm.edu