March, 2006
DARK FIBER SOLUTIONS AWARDED CONTRACT TO PROVIDE WIRELESS VIDEO CONFERENCING SERVICES TO HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT

Dark Fiber Solutions has recently been awarded a contract to provide wireless video conferencing services to the Hovenweep National Monument in Utah.  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 Hovenweep National Monument, without leaving their classrooms, through the use of technology.  A mobile video conferencing cart at the Hovenweep National Monument will be used by the Hovenweep National Monument staff to conduct programs and provide educational opportunities for students through a  “virtual fieldtrip” by utilizing the wireless network.  The Hovenweep staff will have the ability to move their mobile cart to numerous locations within the Hovenweep National Monument Park to give “virtual tours” of the Hovenweep National Monument.

A “virtual fieldtrip” to Hovenweep National Park would provide students with an opportunity for tours of the six prehistoric, Puebloan-era villages along the Utah-Colorado border.  Hovenweep is noted for its solitude and undeveloped, natural character.  Homan habitation at Hovenweep dates to over 10,000 years ago when nomadic Paleoindians visited the Cajon Mesa to gather food and hunt games.  By about A.D. 900, people started to settle at Hovenweep year-round, planting and harvesting crops in the rich soil of the mesa top.

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