Overcoming extremes of temperature and distance define an ongoing challenge in the schools of Aspen View, in Alberta, Canada. Temperatures drop to -40 Celsius for weeks at a time, and rise to 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months. Compounding the challenge is the fact that the 14 schools in the sprawling Aspen View Division are separated by as much as 300 kilometers.

Yet Aspen View has done more than meet the natural challenges of its environment. With the help of AMD processors, Aspen View has worked to position its 3300 students at the cutting edge of technological innovation.

The story began more than 200 years ago, when trappers braved the rugged beauty of northwest Canada in pursuit of furs. Soldiers and traders from the Hudson Bay Company followed, establishing the post at Athabasca, Alberta in 1877.

Some things haven't changed since the first explorers set foot in Alberta. The land still abounds with wildlife and the lakes brim with fish. The area still offers the bracing weather extremes confronted by its early pioneers. But the division is forging a high-speed link to the rest of North America and beyond.

Dr. Dean Lindquist, Associate Superintendent of Aspen View Schools, explained the division's Integrated Technology Project, which spanned all 14 schools. "In phase one, we re-wired all the schools, added new servers and telecommunication and media retrieval equipment. We're now finishing the second phase, which will link our schools together by building a wireless wide area network with high speed Internet connectivity. For most of rural Alberta, 56k is still considered the norm."

For Aspen View, one key goal of their technology upgrade was reaching a ratio of less than five students for every PC. They decided AMD was the best choice to help them reach that goal.

"The AMD processor-based systems give us the performance and reliability we need," said Ernest Aleixandre, Aspen View's Coordinator of Technical Services. "With AMD Duron processor-based systems, we can stretch our budgets to get more computers for our money. Staying with AMD will help us hit our target ratio of less than 5:1."

Aleixandre estimates that 80% of the approximately 700 systems in Aspen View are AMD-based. "All of our workstation purchases have been AMD-based for several years now."

The process of selecting one processor over another was part art--part science for Aleixandre. "We set the specs based on price, performance and stability. Then we read reviews at Tom's Hardware and other places. Finally, we test the systems with Windows 98 or Windows NT to see how they perform. We don't feel the need to write down the differences because it's obvious to the naked eye how fast the system boots and how fast the applications launch."

Aspen View's appreciation of AMD includes the AMD Duron™ processor as well as the AMD Athlon™ processor. In fact, Aspen View's involvement with AMD products goes back to include the AMD K6 and K6-2 processors. For Aleixandre, the qualities of the AMD Athlon processor are easy to describe. "Excellent performance, very fast," Aleixandre said in quick summary. "We've been going with the AMD Athlon processor-based systems for our teachers if they want to do video editing. And of course the Athlons are ideal for any intense mathematical applications."

"But," said Aleixandre, "I have to say the speed of the Duron surprised us a bit. It booted up fast and quickly launched the applications we use, such as MS Office and our curriculum-based software."

The bottom line for Aleixandre is quite simple. "With AMD Duron processor-based systems, we get nice computers for a very competitive price. When you have a fixed budget, and you can get a couple of extra PC's in your labs for the same money, that's a huge plus for the students. Especially when the other key ingredients - the performance, the stability, and the compatibility - are combined in one nice package."

Aspen View's vision of the future is supported by technology that not only links the schools together, but also links Aspen View to the wider world. Of course, when it comes to evaluating technology in the schools, the bottom line is that it must make a difference to the students in the classrooms. So, when we hear from Dr. Lindquist that achievement tests and diploma examination scores have steadily increased in Aspen View over the past five years, we sense that AMD is a growing part of an exciting new frontier.

"We're very satisfied with AMD," Aleixandre said.

Thank you. We want the students, faculty and staff at Aspen View to know that the feeling is mutual.