University Times

Equipment donated to SIS

Pitt's School of Information Sciences (SIS) recently received a Frame Relay switch donated by North Pittsburgh Telephone Company (NPT). Frame Relay is a digital technology that sends data over a telephone network in packets or clusters. It is widely used by businesses for transmitting information at speeds up to 1.544 megabits per second.

"This gift is a great addition to our labs," said Rich Thompson, co-director for the telecommunications program at SIS. "It allows our MST (master of science in telecommunications) students to have hands-on experience with a technology that is extremely popular in the real world."

In announcing the gift, Chris Goff, NPT's director of engineering and operations, said, "Pitt is recognized as one of the area's leading engineering institutions, and our management is cognizant of the value of their telecommunication programs. We were delighted to be able to help further the University's goals by donating equipment to the school's data networking labs."

NPT donated a Newbridge 36120 Mainstreet Frame Relay Switch, which was once one of the keystones of NPT's Frame Relay network. North Pittsburgh Telephone Company technicians installed the equipment in one of Pitt's telecommunications labs. The switch will be used as an adjunct to the University's existing internal network, as well as for telecom lab experiments by students in information sciences.