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BCIT Extends Network with Strategic Wireless
7/10/2006
BCIT first rolled out portions of the wireless network in several core areas in the summer of 2005, in preparation for two large summer conferences. The acid test came with the second conference, a meeting of members of the highly technical, highly wired Internet2 working group. Internet2 is a consortium working on developing advanced network technologies for research and higher education. “That crew is ruthless,” McLeod says. “They’re pretty hard on any networking equipment.”
In preparation for the conference, BCIT set up a number of wired connectivity points as a backup, but by the second day, “we looked around and realized that no one was sitting at the wired switches.” They checked statistics and found that all the attendees were using the wireless network, McLeod says, “and they raved about it… So we knew we were in good shape after that.”
The next phase of the project, which includes another Aruba mobility controller and 250 more access points, is to continue rolling out the wireless project into more smart learning areas, including lecture theaters and presentation areas, as well as some of BCIT’s student housing and open areas.
In the meantime, use of the wireless network by students has exploded since the very first, McLeod says. With little publicity, laptops have been showing up all over campus, with long connection times that attest to the stability of the wireless network. “It just exploded. We’re running over 5,000 connections a week, and the average connection time is over two hours. Students are connecting, and they’re staying connected for extended periods of time.”
Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, Calif.
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