Ekinops selected by Grosse Pointe School System

GPSS selected the Ekinops360 after a competitive, open bid process that attracted multiple proposals from the global WDM system vendor community. With guidance from outside technology consultant Plante & Moran, PLLC, GPSS determined that Ekinops was best able to provide the combination of products and services at an attractive price that “meets both the current and future needs of the District.”

Operating within the framework of its municipal government budget, GPSS identified a critical need to lower its overall communications costs while addressing the growing needs of its community of 14 public schools consisting of approximately 1,000 teachers and administrators and over 7,000 students. Its existing managed lit services from its local service provider were costly to operate, required a long lead-time to upgrade and did not deliver the quality-of-service GPSS needed.  After considering several alternatives, GPSS made the decision to build its own WDM network.

By using the Ekinops360, GPSS is not only able to deliver up to ten times the connection bandwidth to each school compared to the fastest commercially available service, it is also able to take advantage of Ekinops’ leading professional support capabilities. This being its first experience working with WDM systems, GPSS looked to Ekinops to provide expert technical assistance to help install and commission its network as well as provide the necessary training and post-sales support to ensure the continued optimal operation of its system.

“Grosse Pointe is yet another example of how Ekinops is able to serve customers outside of our traditional telco and service provider markets,” said Kevin Antill, Ekinops’ group vice president of sales for North America. “This opportunity demonstrates how Ekinops’ solutions deliver value beyond purely revenue-driven goals by allowing even the most cost-sensitive customers access to advanced technology and tools.”