CalTech Implements Wireless Network Funded by Anonymous Gift

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 07/28/08

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has gone public with its deployment of an Aruba Networks wireless LANs across its Pasadena campus. According to the school's Web site, the wireless network was paid for by an anonymous donor and consists of four Aruba 6000 Modular Mobility Controllers and over 700 access points. The campus encompasses 124 acres and has 2,000 students and 5,700 faculty and staff.

"We implemented a campus-wide wireless LAN and were pleased with the ease of provisioning and deploying the access points," said John Dundas III, Caltech's director of IMSS voice & data networks. "We wanted to provide a campus-wide mobile computing solution that would support voice, video, and other applications in the future. The new network offers the performance, differentiation of service, and security we need, while the centralized network management architecture minimizes the work required to maintain and modify the system to accommodate our very dynamic environment."

The new network provides secured authentication and advanced encryption of wireless traffic. The wireless connection protocol supported is IEEE 802.11b/g. In addition, campus guests will be able to connect without prior registration.