Students across Kansas soon will benefit from unprecedented access to information and opportunity through the Prairie Line Express, a new initiative from KanREN, the Kansas Research and Education Network.

The Prairie Line Express initiative will extend the effort recently announced by Governor Sam Brownback, the Kansas State Board of Education and Education Superhighway to ensure every classroom in Kansas has access to fiber and high-speed internet.

“It is time to provide K-12 students across the state with the same reach and opportunity we have provided Kansas universities for 25 years,” said Cort Buffington, executive director of KanREN. “it is time for us to take this technology to every classroom in every school district to unleash students’ innovation and creativity.”

The Prairie Line Express will connect schools across Kansas to its existing backbone infrastructure, delivering high-speed gigabit fiber connectivity to schools at an affordable price. A request for proposal issued Jan. 23 invites providers across the state to partner with the Prairie Line Express in meeting the State Board of Education’s vision that “Kansas will lead the world in the success of each student.”   Responses to the RFP are expected by Feb. 10.

KanREN, a national leader in research and education networks with a powerful 100Gbps backbone network, is a not-for-profit consortium offering unprecedented access to information and opportunity.

Potential bidders and education officials should visit www.plexpress.org for additional information on the Prairie Line Express.

Links

•       Prairie Line Express website https://plexpress.org

•       KanREN website https://www.kanren.net