Meeting the Shifting Perspective: The Iowa Communications Network

The educational world operates in many dimensions. Population, learning expectations, resources, and technology all contribute to today’s shifting perspectives on how to deliver curriculum to students. In 1989, when the Internet was unheard of and “global economy” was not in our regular vernacular, the state of Iowa was already starting a giant technology shift. With the creation of the Iowa Communications Network (ICN), our predominantly rural state was ahead of its time by using fiber optic telecommunications to bring video distance learning opportunities across the miles to Iowa students.

Today, over 6,400 miles of fiber cable, 3,100 owned by the network and 3,300 leased, allows Iowans to access education, health, and government through the network’s authorized users—secondary and postsecondary schools, libraries, hospitals, National Guard armories, state agencies, and federal offices (see Figure 1). Standard ICN video classrooms are based on Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connectivity with Motion Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) video compression.