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The following message was sent to Tech Coordinators on May 9, 2025.
Thank you to all the schools, districts, technical coordinators, teachers, aides, superintendents, and anyone else whose efforts helped make the DDN Video Network a success over the last 25+ years.
As we mentioned in our State of the DDN presentation, with the DDN Video Network coming to an end, there are a few details we wanted to share.
- Schools will retain ownership of the DDN Video equipment at the schools, including the Polycom Group Series codec (commonly called the video unit), the camera, the television, the rolling cart, and accessories.
- The Polycom video units are supported by their manufacturer through August 2025. After that date, no software or security patches will be available.
Before June 8th, DDN Video will remotely remove the state-specific configurations from the video units at the schools and DDN Support will disable the network interface on the school firewall. Please turn on and leave all video units on and connected to the network until further notice.
After that time, if a school wishes to continue using the video unit, the school needs to perform a factory reset of the video unit using the instructions here. After resetting the device, move the device’s network connection from the DDN-provided firewall to the school’s internal network. That step will be necessary because after June 8th the dedicated firewall interface will be disabled. The video unit will get an IP address on your network, which you connect to through a web browser to configure. DDN recommends that schools change the passwords on the video units and keep them on their internal network behind the DDN-provided firewall. Instructions on how to do this are available in Members FAQ 1497.
For schools planning to use the video units to connect to another school directly, please submit a ticket via the Members site after moving the video unit to your school network. DDN Support will work with your technical coordinator to configure the firewall to support this service. Instructions on how to do this are available in Members FAQ 1497.
For schools planning to use the video units to connect to the NSU-provided Zoom service, please contact NSU E-Learning for instructions.
Should a school district not have a use for the video unit or any of the equipment after June 8th, please perform the factory reset of the video unit using the instructions here, and then surplus the equipment through your school’s regular process. Do not return the equipment to DDN Support/DDN Video.
Questions
If you have any questions, please create a support ticket or email help@k12.sd.us.