Networking & Wireless | News

Union College Adds Wireless to Residential Network

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 02/20/13

A small private college in Schenectady, NY has hired a company that specializes in residential network services to upgrade and manage its student housing network. Union College, which has about 2,100 students, contracted with Apogee to fill out the wireless network in its residential halls. Over the winter break, the service provider, accompanied by campus personnel, moved through 20 dorms, fraternities, and sororities along with 31 campus houses, to install wireless equipment.

"Apogee has been a great partner throughout the whole process, from decision-making to funding to planning and implementation," said CIO Ellen Borkowski "We were very pleased with how smoothly and quickly the implementation was completed."

Previously, students had only wired connections in their rooms. Now each room will have both wired and wireless network access. Students will be able to connect up to three devices simultaneously with a dedicated download connection of 5 Mbps. While standard Internet access is part of the housing cost, they'll be able to purchase additional bandwidth each trimester if they wish to.

Apogee will also provide support 24/7 and make a "locally-hired" technician available for in-room troubleshooting.

The company's other clients include Birmingham-Southern College, the University of North Texas in Denton, and Centenary College of Louisiana, among others.