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U Tulsa Implements Campus-Wide Enterprise WLAN

The University of Tulsa (TU) has upgraded to an enterprise-class wireless local area network (WLAN), which will provide ubiquitous wireless coverage across two campuses and other distributed buildings.

The university needed to upgrade its WLAN to meet the increasing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) demands of students and staff. "BYOD is a very large issue, and wireless is no longer a convenience — it's expected from our students and staff," said Tricia Moreland, CTO at University of Tulsa, in a prepared statement. "Previously, we had many complaints about coverage because our wireless was unable to handle the increasing demands."

After evaluating several solutions for performance, scalability, cost effectiveness and ease of use, the University of Tulsa selected an IdentiFi Wireless solution from Extreme Networks. The university implemented S-series module switches for its core network and C-series stackable switches at the edge. So far, it has implemented 775 IdentiFi access points (APs), and it plans to deploy a total of 2,400 APs across 95 academic, administrative and residential buildings on two campuses, as well as in other distributed buildings.

TU will also use Extreme Networks' NetSight management suite with Mobile IAM. According to the company, NetSight is an integrated management suite that will provide the university with increased visibility of the entire wired and wireless LAN, and Mobile IAM will provide "the limited networking staff of four a way to manage the proliferation of devices coming onto the network."

The university anticipates that the new WLAN will support its future mobility growth, including increasing BYOD, online learning and wireless coverage for athletic venues.

About the Author

Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].

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