Concordia University first Canadian university to rollout next-gen WiFi

Concordia University is teaming with Cisco Systems Inc. for a first in Canada - the rollout of a next-generation WiFi network at its Montreal campus. There's a lot of hype around 802.11n, the yet-to-be certified set of standards for wireless local area networks (WLANs) that, with greater range and much higher speeds, is better able to accommodate video streaming and wireless voice over IP. Most experts believe it will bring about a sea change in Wi-Fi functionality, however, is 802.11n ready for prime time? "The risks are negligible," says Mark Tauschek, senior research analyst with Info-Tech Research in London ON. "There will not be any changes in the standard that are significant enough to force hardware changes. This is why Cisco has announced that they will roll out gear based on the 11n draft." This is certainly Concordia's view. Andrew McAusland, executive director of Concordia's instructional and information technology services (IITS), says he is willing to be a first mover because of Concordia's solid relationship with Cisco. "We have a lot of faith in their products - we have their VoIP system." Details of the sale have not been released, but another reason for McAusland's enthusiasm might be that Cisco almost certainly gave Concordia a sweet deal. Cisco needs a ‘poster boy' for "enterprise-grade" 802.11n, and this could explain why the waters are being tested at a university. "A university is an odd choice because they won't get the immediate benefits. Probably 95% of users won't be on 11n, so there'll be no speed boost," says Tauschek, adding that the university likely received a discounted price on the equipment. McAusland disagrees, however, saying there are clear benefits to the campus. "As a university we cannot age with our client base. Young people come in every year, and their expectations change every year. We have 40,000 students, and 70% of them have laptops. In two years they will all have 11n." He also notes that wireless is becoming the de facto standard on campuses, and that in the four years of wireless at Concordia growth has been 200% annually. For Michael Rozender, a consultant who focuses on strategic and tactical planning projects for clients who want to deploy advanced telecom solutions, there are two main advantages for Concordia. "First, you get much better throughput with 11n. It's at 100 to 200 megabits per second (Mbps) at the edge. This compares to significant drop offs with other standards. And campus design can be done better, with fewer access points." There will, however, be some interoperability issues, and this might require upgrades. Cisco and other vendors say that they will provide firmware upgrades to make their technology compliant with the final Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard. This is fine by McAusland, who is impatient to get the capabilities in place. "The IEEE is taking their sweet time," he says. "The product is not yet ratified, but it will be." Rozender suggests that Concordia should keep its eye on one challenging aspect of the new 802.11n capabilities - something that he has run into with his own clients. "Because 802.11n uses multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas and beam forming, it requires more power. These devices are sitting in ceilings...sometimes the wiring can't handle it. There is definitely a bit of a headache here." One solution: in a Greenfields' (or rip and replace) environment there is the option of using the high energy, power over Ethernet (PoE) standard.

Concordia University first Canadian university to rollout next-gen WiFi

News | February 12, 2008

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