Since working at Duquesne University, Sheryl Reinhard noticed that students were bringing more and more devices on campus.
However, when it came to wireless connections, the university’s dormitories were built to only support coverage, not density.
That’s when Duquesne partnered with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise to implement better wireless capabilities in its dormitories.
“Wireless is such a highly visible and highly important strategic item,” says Reinhard, Director of Systems, Operations, and Network at Duquesne University. “The students want it – it’s all about the students.”
Alcatel-Lucent’s installation at the university included:
• 1200 OmniAccess AP205 Wireless Access Points across four dormitories
• AC Wireless speed in every dorm room
• Blown fiber solutions from the core of each building for future 10GB capabilities
Reinhard says the old AP units that were pulled from the dormitories were “put on the academic side of the network,” and beefed up density there.
“While we’re trying to make the most of the investment that we made, we were also able to get a little bit of extra money and save money on the implementation,” she says. “Working with Alcatel-Lucent, [we were] able to replace some of our fiber infrastructure in addition to just refreshing wireless…That’s really future proofing our infrastructure. We’re excited about that.”
Neal Tilley, Business Development Director for Alcatel-Lucent, says Duquesne’s move to future-proofing the network is smart.
As future generations of students move into the school, their technology demands will go up, as well as the expectation that the university will satisfy those demands.
“What’s important about that is the next-generation learning environment that you’re heading towards is going to keep pushing the envelope in terms of content and access,” Tilley says.
That’s why companies like Alcatel-Lucent like to work with colleges early and educate them on how to future-proof their network before they pull the trigger on an investment.
If colleges opt for a network with an approaching expiration date, they will end up paying double, and wasting administrators’ money in the long run.
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