(MARSHALL) – Sixteen employees at Longview-based Network Communications Inc. recently started an 84-hour comprehensive networking and cyber security course for workforce development at Texas State Technical College.

The Texas Workforce Commission is providing $35,000 to cover the pay of TSTC instructors, along with books, supplies and other training costs. The one-day-a-week training began in November and ends in May.

“Some workers deal directly with networking, and the training will align with what they are doing,” said Benjamin Cantu, business relationship manager for TSTC’s Workforce Training office. “Other Network Communications workers have known networking their whole life and are understanding the back-end work of it.”

Keith Lloyd, Network Communications’ general manager, said he is happy about the convenience of having the training close by. This is the first time the company has used TSTC for workforce development.

“We are excited to use this for our people because we know a year from now it will be beneficial to everyone involved,” Lloyd said. “The fact that TSTC can do this is huge for us. We were going to have to figure out how to piecemeal it. It is an expensive proposition to train people, but it is nice to see those types of dollars available to help us grow our business.”

Network Communications has about 50 employees and is locally owned. The company provides commercial office automation, prepaid telephone cards, high-speed internet using fiber-optic networks and telephone services to Henderson, Kilgore, Longview and Marshall.

The company donated earlier this year to TSTC’s Make a Texas-Sized Difference campaign for the Texan Success Scholarship developed by The TSTC Foundation and has been part of TSTC’s Industry Career Day.

“People don’t realize what we have in our backyard with TSTC,” Lloyd said. “Training is available. The effort that is put in putting kids into the school and then in good careers is valuable.”

The training is an amendment to a TWC Skills Development Fund grant the technical college received in 2015 for more than 250 employees at The Crosby Group in Longview.

“If you love our graduates, you will love our training,” Cantu said. “It will help the bottom dollar and help with company efficiency.”

For more information on Network Communications Inc., go networkcommunications.com.

For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.