Just because most students and staff are moving about campus using wireless devices like phones and tablets, there still has to be a reliable secure wired network supporting the wireless infrastructure in the background. Integrating wired and wireless management is the best way to build out and manage this new type of campus network — one that is flexible, capable, and scalable.
Students and faculty alike are using all sorts of mobile devices on campus. There is also a proliferation of other connected devices, like IoT sensors. This vastly increases the number of network connections, yet there is often stagnant funding to increase network bandwidth. Networks have to operate efficiently. When considering a campus network upgrade, keep automation, simplicity, and visibility in mind.
Although wireless devices are almost ubiquitous, every wireless communication must eventually pass through a wired connection. Therefore, threat detection and mitigation on the wired network is critical and traditional security perimeters are no longer sufficient. Campuses need secure wired networks and management software with adaptable, flexible policy management.
Campus research often generates massive volumes of data; enough to strangle a standard network. Instead of relying on a workaround like a separate network or isolated network zones, some universities are considering a software-defined network and advanced switching technology to handle transmitting massive data volumes.
Campus networks are being flooded with connected devices, especially as IoT devices continue to proliferate. Dynamic segmentation, in which certain traffic is kept separate from normal network traffic, is one way to manage traffic specific to IoT sensors and devices. That traffic could include data streams from student, faculty, staff, or guest devices. It would also encompass IoT devices, such as security cameras and door locks
Even though wireless traffic continues to grow, every communication must still pass through a wired switch. Wired network switches and ports play a more critical role than ever in the wired network structure. Switches often handle ten to twenty times more traffic, so the security and stability of the wired and wireless network is just as critical — if not more so —than ever before.