Washington State U Deploys Optical LAN for Campus Housing
Washington State University (WSU) plans to
upgrade its broadband infrastructure for on-campus housing with a passive
optical LAN (POL) solution.
Students living in campus housing had been demanding fast and reliable
Internet service to access online applications and resources, as well as
streaming content for entertainment. Student demand for bandwidth was straining
the university's existing copper-based LAN, which was itself becoming antiquated
and expensive to replace.
"Today's college students grew up in a connected world, and as more devices
with Internet capabilities are continuously flooding the market, it's important
for campuses like ours to provide the fast and reliable Internet that students
demand," said Wallace A. Chase, information technology services network manager
for the university, in a prepared statement. "The flood of broadband traffic
places significant pressure on campus broadband infrastructures, potentially
overloading networks.
The university worked with Leidos Engineering to develop a vision for the
future and identify a suitable solution. They selected FiberLAN from Zhone
Technologies. "We decided Zhone's FiberLAN addressed our needs and provided
growth opportunity, allowing us to affordably upgrade our on-campus housing to
provide students with the bandwidth they desire," said Chase.
According to information on the company's site, FiberLAN is a
high-performance, high density gigabit passive optical network (GPON) LAN
solution that can deliver high speed data, voice and video to multi-level,
multi-unit complexes. FiberLAN will enable WSU "to meet increased demand for
bandwidth, while saving space, decreasing power consumption and improving
infrastructure lifespan," said Monique Apter, vice president of FiberLAN at
Zhone Technologies, in a prepared statement.
The university is also "continuing to integrate POL into its own information
technology building, and other campus administrative and housing facilities,"
according to a news release from Zhone Technologies.
Washington State University is a public research university located in
Pullman, WA, serving nearly 28,000 students.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].