WCU Cuts the Cord: Wireless Only in New Residence Halls

West Chester University is one of only a handful of U.S. universities to "cut the cord" and go exclusively wireless for the LAN (local area networks) in two new residence halls. The installations in Allegheny and Brandywine halls, which both opened for the fall 2009 semester, are saving dollars and reducing the University's environmental impact as well.

The installations demonstrate the expected benefits of wireless - primarily convenience, connectivity and speed. Based on this success, the University intends to forgo wired LANs in future residence halls in favor of Wi-Fi.

"Our objective is to use wireless wherever we can and deploy Ethernet only where we absolutely must," said Adel Barimani, WCU's CIO and Interim Vice President of Information Services. "We reached this position after analyzing the infrastructure requirements in our new residence halls. Our students are using Wi-Fi enabled devices more than ever before and Wi-Fi availability is essential as new technologies are deployed."

The University is in the midst of a multi-year plan to replace its aging dormitories with suite-style residence halls. Barimani says the next phase of construction will employ wireless-only technology.

Richard Chan, WCU's assistant director of Networking and Telecommunications, acknowledged that "Each seven-story facility typically houses about 625 students. Using wireless networks in existing facilities will eliminate roughly 1,050 Ethernet ports and fourteen 80-port switches per building, a savings of roughly $250,000 in new buildings that would otherwise require wire installation. Additionally, the reduced cooling and power requirements of the Wi-Fi networks are expected to lower the carbon footprint of each building by more than 25 metric tons per year."

The savings in terms of environmental impact is impressive. Traditional wired LANs draw substantial energy to operate and require considerable cooling. In addition, the University would need less cable and wiring, reducing the demand for products that are not always made with the most environmentally friendly materials. The product installed is Aruba 802.11n Wi-Fi networks with Adaptive Radio Management from Aruba Networks, Inc., a global leader in wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions. Its technology enables network users to achieve wire-like performance over the air.