Monday 6 September 2010

Wireless expansion

Our Voice and Data team have very busy these past few weeks, migrating our existing wireless system to a new platform. This has entailed some very early starts to change the access points over without causing users inconvenience.

There's been a massive effort from the team to install new points and increase the coverage of the network as well as change the existing service.  We consulted with  Faculties to find out where they needed the coverage, and at the moment we have 378 wireless access points in active service and this number is going up  every day.

The rollout has seen the introduction of a new model of access point which has introduced cutting edge 802.11n (5ghz) access to the University network. 802.11n more than doubles current wireless throughput and provides a much more resilient signal through obstacles and walls. Most modern computers such as Macbooks and higher spec PC's come fitted with the required adapters.

We have recently seen a huge increase in load on our wireless network, particularly in areas such the Information Commons.  Many more devices are connecting to it - students have smart phones, iPod Touches, laptops -  and will often have more than one wireless enabled device with them. As we make more of our services available to mobile users, a pervasive, powerful, resilient wireless network is essential, and I'm glad to say that we are working hard to achieve that goal.

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