Wifi Revolution

As part of a major network expansion to provide pervasive wireless access across its 16-building campus in Winston-Salem, N.C, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is installing its first high-performance IEEE 802.11n wireless access points from Meru Networks (News - Alert).

 

The medical center has been a Meru customer since 2006, and will now add 255 new access points by the end of February to the 677 previously deployed. The deployment will extend wireless coverage to faculty offices, outpatient clinics and the cancer center. As fifteen of the new units incorporate the emerging 802.11n standard, it allows wireless access at speeds of up to 300 megabits per second. Meru Networks points out that this is more than five times the speed of earlier 802.11a/b/g standards.

 

According to Bill Masten, senior network systems analyst at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, wireless will be the exclusive means of connectivity at several of the newly-deployed sites. He explained in a statement that a lot of old wiring was removed when several lecture halls were renovated recently. Thus for the first time the center will have some wireless-only sites.

 

Masten said that earlier wireless used to be seen as inferior in terms of reliability and security. After two years of experience with their Meru wireless LAN, it is clear that it is just as dependable as the wired network.

 

He continued: “Meru's fourth-generation wireless architecture is superior to the others we looked at. And with the new 802.11n access points putting 200-plus megabits of data in the air, it becomes a cost argument. Why spend $300 per wire pull when you can put in a single access point to serve dozens of users?”

 

Today, physicians, residents and students, especially the younger ones, expect high-quality wireless connectivity.

 

The Medical Center is deploying its new 802.11n access points in high-density locations, such as lecture halls and conference rooms. These will allow as many as 100 users to be wirelessly connected at a given time. The access points will also be used in areas requiring ultra-high-performance data transmission.

 

Meru says that the center has been running voice traffic on its wireless network for more than a year. Meru was especially chosen for its high MOS (Mean Opinion Score, a measure of VoIP quality).

 

Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Brenner Children's Hospital.

 

Meru Networks develops and markets wireless infrastructure solutions that enable the All-Wireless Enterprise.

 

 

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