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August 12, 2009

Suffolk University Selects Cellular Specialties Solutions

By Anil Sharma, TMCnet Contributor

Suffolk University has selected Cellular Specialties’ solutions to boost wireless signal strength for both data and voice services in highly congested, low coverage areas such as the university's student residence hall on Beacon Hill.




Cellular Specialties (CSI) officials said that the company’s solutions play a crucial role at the University as wireless is used by most students and faculty to conduct secure messaging, send and receive e-mails and access data throughout the campus.

A private, urban university located on Boston's historic Beacon Hill, Suffolk University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in more than 70 areas of study through its College of Arts and Science, Sawyer Business School and Suffolk University Law School.

The university has campuses on three continents - in Boston, Madrid and Dakar (Africa) -- as well as satellite locations in Eastern Massachusetts.

According to Fouad Yatim, Suffolk University's chief information officer, the initial need for CSI solutions was driven by the university's in-campus emergency notification system.

"Originally, in-building wireless was not even on our radar. But it quickly became an issue when we realized that poor cell phone coverage was hindering the ability for students to receive important in-campus notifications via e-mail and text when they were located in certain buildings. Once this weakness was identified, we reached out to CSI for help," said Yatim.

Officials said that products such as amplifiers/repeaters, in-line boosters, and multi-directional antennas are geared towards supplementing and expanding the scope of wireless signals in low coverage areas. Initial installation occurred at the university's Nathan Miller residence hall, a 21 story building with 168,000 square feet in the heart of downtown Boston.

Yatim said that the ability to send and receive data regardless of location is crucial for students, as most are using texting rather than talking on their wireless devices. Additionally, more and more applications are being optimized to run on mobile devices, and students are connecting to these applications using their smart phones. For this reason, availability and accessibility of these applications regardless of location is critical, he said.

"As phones are getting smarter, they begin to run on higher and higher bandwidth networks, as more and more data are being used. But these 2G and 3G networks have the most trouble penetrating buildings, making it much less likely that the wireless device will work indoors," Yatim said.





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Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi


 







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