Wifi Revolution

The University of Georgia's (UGA) Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel has selected the Ruckus ZoneFlex system as the sole means of network connectivity for hotel guests and visitors at the massive facility.

 

The center has chosen the Ruckus ZoneFlex system because it needed fewer access points than competitive alternatives. Also, it had to allow Wi-Fi access points to be deployed without Ethernet cabling as well as longer-range and more reliable signals. In addition, the ZoneFlex system significantly was chosen because it will reduce the support burden placed on the IT staff.

 

For the Georgia Center, the Ruckus ZoneFlex solution included only nine ZoneFlex 2942 Smart Wi-Fi 802.11g access points and a single ZoneDirector 1025 Smart Wireless LAN controller. In addition, the Georgia Center has deployed 16 ZoneFlex 2925 Lite Mesh Gateways (LMGs) to provide Wi-Fi connectivity in locations where Ethernet cabling wasn't available.

 

"We had wireless, but that wasn't the issue," said Corey Doster, the Associate Director of Information Technology at the Georgia Center. "The issue was reducing the support burden, providing a consistent user experience and getting reliable coverage in the hotel."

 

The Ruckus ZoneFlex system seamlessly integrated with the Georgia Center's preferred authentication mechanism thereby providing users with a more uniform experience.

 

Another key factor in selecting ZoneFlex was the 24x7 third-party support for all troubleshooting and maintenance. Support and maintenance costs for the hotel's proprietary cable system ran the Georgia Center up to $3 per room each year. With the Ruckus ZoneFlex system, this cost will come down significantly.

 

"The Ruckus ZoneFlex system was extremely simple to set up and fit perfectly into the university's security requirements,” explained Doster. “And the wireless mesh capabilities removed the need for costly Ethernet wiring to provide coverage in hard-to-reach areas. Before we found Ruckus, we weren't sure providing reliable, ubiquitous wireless access in the hotel would even be possible. Fortunately, we were wrong."

Niladri Sekhar Nath is a contributing writer for TMCnet covering telecommunications, service providers and networking.

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