>From country roads to the information highway: West Virginia gets support from Bell Atlantic

Bell Atlantic is answering a challenge from West Virginia officials by providing a new $20 million broadband telecommunications network. Improving access to technology throughout the mostly rural state is the goal of West Virginia 2001, Bell Atlantic's new program.

"Basically, it's a project to deploy ATM throughout West Virginia," said Buddy Reynolds, sales manager for Bell Atlantic-West Virginia.

The program has several goals, including improving economic development and access to higher education, health care and state agencies by upgrading the state's network infrastructure and equipment.

Currently, West Virginia has 797,000 access lines, Reynolds said. Bell Atlantic has placed asynchronous transfer mode switches in Clarksburg and Charleston, the state capital. End users-mostly hospitals, universities and state departments-will be connected to the backbone by DS-1, DS-3 or OC-3 circuits and will pay a flat rate to use the lines no matter how far they are from them. Such a "distance-insensitive" service is important in West Virginia, where there are "a lot of long roads between the switches," Reynolds said. The carrier expects to connect 26 sites in early 1998, he said.

"This mammoth undertaking may have as much impact on the economic vitality of our state as the launching of the interstate highway system three decades ago," said West Virginia Gov. Cecil H. Underwood, whose last election platform included a promise to make the state more technologically competitive. "The Bell Atlantic West Virginia 2001 network will improve the efficiency of state government and position West Virginians for the new challenges and economic opportunities of the 21st century."

Bell Atlantic already has worked with the state through World School, a program linking all public schools within the carrier's service area to the Internet using high-speed frame relay service.

West Virginia 2001 faces one major challenge, said Reynolds.

"Over the years, some school campuses have built very large networks while others have barely any lines at all," he said. "One hospital preferred one manufacturer to another. Nobody wants to throw awaythose expensive legacy systems. The challenge is to get everyone on the ATM backbone without making them start from scratch."

Bell Atlantic is doing that with a full service, user network interface, Reynolds said. But first, the carrier is surveying each school, health care facility and state office.

"We want to identify existing and future applications so that we can take in as many end user requirements as possible and lay down the lowest common denominator system," Reynolds said. "The problem is that a lot of [end users] don't know what they're going to do yet."

The program should be completed by 2000, he said.

"What we're trying to do is a build a foundation on which the state can grow," he said.

BELLSOUTH GOES GLOBAL

BellSouth Corp. has implemented 1-800-BELLSOUTH, a toll free number that gives customers access to its global calling services. Along with the number, BellSouth is offering a global calling card for automated and operator-assisted calling services, domestic and international long-distance and national directory assistance.

MORE NETDAY GOOD DEEDS

The United States Telephone Association, which is celebrating 100 years of service, launched Commitment to Chicago, a community service project, in conjunction with NetDay, celebrated Oct. 25. Through the program seven Chicago schools received wiring kits, cables, access lines and free Internet access. Members of the Independent Telephone Pioneers Association, a group of active and retired local phone company employees, raised the money.