Saint Joseph's Aims for Campus-Wide Wireless with Meru

Saint Joseph's University has started to deploy a Meru Networks (News - Alert) wireless LAN across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.

 

By this fall, 380 Meru access points (APs) will be providing wireless coverage to 25 buildings, which will include all 20 residences plus two dining halls, a student commons, an administrative facility and an academic building.

 

By the time the University replaces a legacy wireless network in its academic buildings and renovates its James J. Maguire '58 campus, located on a newly acquired adjacent property, up to 800 Meru APs will be installed.

 

According to Joseph Petragnani, assistant vice president for information technology at Saint Joseph's, the University had installed a WLAN from Airespace (now part of Cisco (News - Alert)) in selected academic buildings in 2004 and expanded it over the next several years. By early 2007, when the University embarked on a project to extend wireless coverage to its residence halls, the IT team began researching fourth-generation WLAN technologies, selecting Meru after an extensive vendor evaluation.

 

"The competition for funding dollars is always intense, so it's critical to make the best possible use of those dollars," said Petragnani. "We found Meru's Air Traffic Control technology to provide the most cost-effective, efficient wireless solution – and the easiest to manage."

 

The University is also considering a new generation of Meru high-performance 802.11n products, which are fully backward-compatible with existing 802.11a/b/g gear, for use on the Maguire campus when it opens in the fall of 2009.

 

Meru products currently being used at Saint Joseph's University include the AP208 access point, which has two radios both capable of operating at IEEE (News - Alert) 802.11b/g and 802.11a modes; and the MC3000 series controller, which provides centralized intelligent RF management, advanced quality of service and security for the wireless LAN.

 

Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851, Saint Joseph's University advances the professional and personal ambitions of men and women by providing a demanding, yet supportive, educational experience.

 

One of only 142 schools with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and AACSB business school accreditation, Saint Joseph's is home to 4,150 full-time undergraduates and 2,700 graduate, part-time and doctoral students. Steeped in the 450-year Jesuit tradition of scholarship and service, Saint Joseph's was recently named to the 2006 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for General Community Service. The University strives to be recognized as the preeminent Catholic comprehensive university in the Northeast.