Tennessee Tech Extends WLAN

Tennessee Tech University (TTU) has extended its WLAN again since overhauling its network in 2011.

The university replaced its aging network infrastructure in 2011 to better serve its growing student and employee population and cut IT costs while providing improved mobile device capabilities, including support for bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and Apple services such as AirPrint, AirPlay and Apple TV.

The university chose a wireless network solution from Aerohive because of the company's proprietary Bonjour Gateway solution that "simplifies the support of Apple-compatible devices at universities, making Apple services such as AirPrint, AirPlay and remote display with Apple TV usable across large networks," according to the company. Support for Apple Bonjour was important to the university because of the predominant usage of Apple products in TTU's classrooms.

The university also chose Aerohive because of its controllerless architecture, which simplifies scalability. According to the company, "with the Aerohive system, TTU has been able to add more access points as the university grows and demand increases."

TTU is also using Aerohive's BR100 branch routers to provide traveling staff, such as administrators and athletic recruiters, with remote connectivity and access to TTU resources. The BR100 Routers enable network administrators to set up a single configuration for remote devices through the HiveManager interface, and then when they plug in a new BR100 router for another remote office VPN, it discovers the HiveManager automatically.

"As the environment changes, we have to adapt to it. That's one of the nice things about Aerohive; we're not concerned at all about controllers, which limit how quickly we can grow a network," said Jerry Boyd, director of network services and operations at TTU, in a prepared statement. "Aerohive's controllerless architecture has allowed us to quickly and cost-effectively scale while keeping up with the connectivity needs of our exploding student population and staff."

Tennessee Tech University is the state's only public technological university. It is located in Cookeville, TN and serves more than 11,700 students.

About the Author

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

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