Welcome to E-Rate FY2023
The E-Rate Program funds networking equipment and infrastructure within a school or library building. Connectivity - and the ability for schools to provide digital learning - has never been more critical. Our sales team is deeply knowledgeable in E-Rate funding and can support you with your application. We do site surveys, needs assessments and budgetary pricing to optimize E-Rate coverage for your school technology plan.
DES has supported K-12 with E-Rate design and implementation since 1996. We partner with many leading brands to build network solutions that are covered through E-Rate’s Category 2 funding, including, Alcatel-Lucent, Aruba HPE, Fortinet and many more.
E-Rate Services
What You Need To Know:
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The Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as E-rate, provides discounts for telecommunications, internet access and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries. E-rate is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
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Every five years, E-Rate allocates a new funding cycle that covers the full five years. Each year during that cycle, schools can apply for purchases against their 5-year budget. The filing window for FY2021 opens up current 5-year budget. Schools can make use of any part of their E-Rate allocation for FY2021-2026.
2023 Filing Window: Typically, Mid-January 2023 – March 28, 2023.
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DES E-rate SPIN/498 ID: 143004490
What is Covered:
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DES can provide all equipment and services on the Category 2 listings, including:
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Wireless Access Points/Wireless Controllers
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Routers
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Switches
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Antennas (must be integral to the LAN/WAN)
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Firewall Equipment
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Internal Structured Cabling for switches and APs.
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Caching Servers – (these are the only eligible servers)
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Racks that house eligible equipment
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UPS that support eligible equipment
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Cloud-based functionality of eligible equipment
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Licenses for eligible equipment (can apply for multi-year license in Year 1 of your contract)
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Software that supports eligible equipment
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Limited basic maintenance services for eligible equipment
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Managed Internal Broadband Services (MIBS) – (see more below)
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Taxes, surcharges and other similar reasonable charges
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Shipping charges
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Training on how to use eligible equipment
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Installation and configuration (not required to be the equipment vendor)
What DES Can Do For You:
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We do site surveys, needs assessments and budgetary pricing to optimize E-Rate coverage for your school technology plan. In addition, we offer maintenance and support packages to protect your E-Rate solutions.
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As a solution integrator, we partner with many leading brands to build network solutions that are covered through E-Rate’s Category 2 funding:
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Alcatel-Lucent
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Aruba HPE
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Fortinet
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Juniper Networks
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And many more
Quick Links
Solutions from our Toolkit
Right-Sized Wireless for Any School
WI-FI ACCESS POINTS AND NETWORK DESIGN
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In today’s school environment, reliable wireless access is a critical component to curriculum design. We assess the school campus design and evaluate all contributing factors – such as the composition of classroom walls – to create a network plan that maximizes connectivity while remaining in budget. With the growing proliferation of endpoint devices, we ensure that the Wi-Fi network can scale to support your campus requirements.
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Not all switches are created equal. We work with multiple vendors and understand when a multi-gig switch is appropriate or when a PoE++ switch has greater value. Our sales engineers work with you to design network solutions that are effective and sustainable