Emmanuel College
reportedly has selected Ruckus Wireless (
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Alert) to replace its existing 802.11g WiFi network with a campus-wide 802.11n wireless LAN based on smart WiFi technology.
Emmanuel’s decision came after officials there received complaints from users about dropped connections, poor performance and spotty coverage offered by the existing college WLAN, which was based on 802.11g technology.
Smart WiFi (
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Alert) represents the next generation of 802.11 innovations, combining technical advances in RF signal routing and adaptive antenna arrays with centralized WLAN management. The combination of technologies enables a centrally controlled WiFi environment that provides dramatically better coverage and more reliable WiFi signals that automatically adapt to environmental changes, delivering more consistent performance to users at long distances.
“We were wasting hours chasing WiFi ghosts,” said Glenn Toney, IT director at Emmanuel, a private Christian College in northeast Georgia. “With such a large campus, it was difficult for us to quickly pinpoint and resolve WiFi problems. We spent hours literally running around from building to building resetting APs and trying to determine the cause of RF problems. Many times problems would simply appear and then disappear.”
Emmanuel College occupies 150 acres of property with more than 30 single- and multi-story buildings constructed of metal and thick concrete. These include dormitories, academic classrooms, office buildings, libraries, dining halls and other facilities.
Glenn Toney said that though these buildings were built to last, they aren’t WiFi-friendly.
“We had no real way to determine how WiFi signals would propagate throughout each facility. We really needed a wireless system that could intelligently route WiFi signals over the best path to users, around obstacles and interference over which we have no control, without requiring us to spend countless hours trying to place APs in the ‘right’ spot.”
Ruckus Wireless, a WiFi technology company in the carrier and enterprise wireless LAN markets, in July this year announced the immediate availability of its new
MediaFlex 7000 series, the first commercial
802.11n system specifically developed for operators to distribute multiple streams of high-definition IPTV (
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Alert) content throughout a subscriber’s home without costly and time-consuming cable installation.
Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil's articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Michael Dinan