A North Texas district needed dependable internet at every site, and the usual answer was a multiyear fiber build. Weaver wrote that quote, then showed the board two alternatives. The district chose a managed school district SD-WAN that reached every site in months instead of years.
The challenge: dependable internet at every site, fast
The district is a North Texas public school district with a multi-site footprint. That footprint includes every campus and several support facilities. It needed dependable internet at each location. It also wanted a second site that could stand on its own, so campuses did not all depend on a single point of failure. Coverage and resilience drove the project, not price.
The usual answer was fiber. In fact, Weaver quoted the cabling to reach every district location. That quote came to a multimillion-dollar capital project spread over two to three years. However, the district needed connectivity in place for the coming school year. So the timeline was the harder problem of the two.
Our approach: a managed school district SD-WAN
Weaver looked at what the district needed to accomplish, not the infrastructure it assumed it had to build. The requirement was reliable, manageable connectivity at every location. Owning the fiber was one way to get there. Still, on this timeline it was not the right one. So Weaver put the alternative on the table, even after writing the cabling quote.
Working with AireSpring, Weaver designed a managed school district SD-WAN overlay. It binds commercial broadband and fiber circuits at each site into one managed network. As a result, the district takes an operational service with a defined monthly cost and a defined start date. It avoids construction risk and a capital project.
What Weaver delivered
- Tier 1, district hub. A middle school campus runs an Edge 3800 on two diverse circuits, including 10 Gb/s AT&T Gig Ethernet.
- Tier 2, HA pair. The high school runs two Edge 3800 appliances with redundant managed switches and 1000 Mb/s in-tunnel bandwidth.
- Tier 3, all other sites. Each campus and facility runs an Edge 720 with 200 Mb/s in-tunnel bandwidth.
- Protection and monitoring. DDoS mitigation and 24/7 monitoring with automatic case creation cover every site.
- Single-pane visibility. District IT sees every circuit and device in the AireControl portal.
Results: every site live on the school district SD-WAN
The district signed the scope of work in spring 2026. Then the network went live on schedule for the new school year. That is roughly six months from contract to production at every site. By contrast, a construction schedule would have run past two more school years.
Today, every site is live and managed. The agreement costs a fraction of the fiber build over its 36-month term, with a predictable monthly cost. Two sites carry redundancy. Also, the district escalates to one place for the relationship, design, deployment and day-to-day management. The board formally evaluated the fiber build and never funded it.
“We wrote the cabling quote. We also told the district it did not have to spend it. The requirement was reliable connectivity at every location, and owning the fiber was only one way to get there.”
Ryan Weaver, Director of Operations, Weaver Technologies
A common challenge in Texas K-12
Districts with many sites often assume that owning fiber is the only route to reliable connectivity. When the school calendar is the real limit, a managed overlay on commercial circuits can deliver coverage and resilience much sooner. A school district SD-WAN from a partner like AireSpring also turns a capital project into a predictable service.
Most importantly, the board saw both options with full costs, so it decided on facts and not a headline number. Sometimes the right solution is the one the customer has not seen yet.
Weighing a fiber build?
Weaver can put the fiber quote and the alternatives side by side, so your board can decide on the full picture. Talk with our team, or browse more case studies.
