March, 2006
DARK FIBER SOLUTIONS AWARDED CONTRACT TO PROVIDE WIRELESS VIDEO CONFERENCING SERVICES TO BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Dark Fiber Solutions has recently been awarded a contract to provide wireless video conferencing services to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.  The Wireless Video Conferencing Service provided by DFS will enable hundreds of south-central and southeast Nebraska students from over seventy schools to “visit” the Badlands National Park, without leaving their classrooms, through the use of technology.  A mobile video conferencing cart at the Badlands National Parks will be used by the Badlands Park Rangers and  staff to conduct programs and provide educational opportunities for students through a  “virtual fieldtrip” by utilizing the wireless network.  The Badlands staff will have the ability to move their mobile cart to numerous locations within their National Park to give “virtual tours” of the Badlands National Park..

A “virtual fieldtrip” to Badlands National Park would provide students with the opportunity for both visual and audio tours of the Badlands’ sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States.  The Badlands Wilderness Area covers 64,000 acres and is the site of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret, the most endangered land mammal in North America.

Students will not only be able to “view” the Badlands National Park live, but will also be able to ask questions of the Badlands National Parks staff through the interactive video conferences.