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Bellarmine University: Wireless Networks: Planning for Success
11/1/2002
For those of you who have lived through installation of a wired network,
the thought of implementing a wireless network must seem like it would
be fraught with peril. And, while it is true that the potential for problems
d'es still exist, a careful approach to planning can greatly minimize—if
not entirely eliminate—many hidden land mines that occupy the ground between
you and successful installation.
At Bellarmine University, to provide support for our 2,200-plus students, we have 750 computers and 29 network servers with over 862GB storage. This handles an average of 350 users at any given time. We currently store 4,042 ID photos for 4,000 active UserIDs, as well as 4,542,341 e-mails online. Most of the buildings on Bellarmine's campus are relatively new—the University itself is only slightly over 50 years old. In the recent past, whenever a new building went up, a complete computer-friendly wiring structure went up with it. In some buildings, such as the W.L. Lyons Brown Library, every seat is wired with jacks for power and data as well as fiber-optic connections in some areas. In other buildings, however, wiring of any kind poses a major problem. For example, in the Kennedy-Newman residence halls, two of the campus' original buildings, the thick concrete floors and walls make insertion of even a wired network a nightmare. The solution? Wireless networks.
In some aspects, we like to think of ourselves as pioneers. The one self-image we do not want to consider, however, is of a person lying face down on the prairie with an arrow in his or her back. So we seldom jump into anything simply because it happens to be ultra-new or state-of-the-art. We always attempt to find a common middle ground between jumping right in and paralysis by analysis. The challenge posed by the Kennedy/Newman Residence Halls provided us with the perfect opportunity to test the concept of something we had long considered to be of tremendous potential value—wireless networks.
The Kennedy/Newman project was a first of its kind for Bellarmine, and posed many questions. What would it take to wire a building with thick concrete walls? How many unknowns would we find along the way? Once we got the system installed, would the students use the technology? What type of support were we going to provide? The only way to assure ourselves that we were heading down the right path was careful planning, taking each step in turn. Even with the planning, once the project began, the questions continued to grow!
Wireless is really becoming a consumer good. It is being sold to people for use in their homes, so there's not really much mystery to it. The downside risk, while it d'es exist, perhaps involves cost more than it d'es technical issues. Nonetheless, there is still a risk, so prudence dictates caution and due diligence, especially when choosing the technology to be used. For our first step, selecting the product, we wanted a product that met IEEE standards, had a good track record, and a company that provided technical support. After talking to vendors and testing different products, we settled on the Nortel eMobility suite of products.
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