Building a Backbone for a Robust Wireless Environment.
Designing a network infrastructure solution that supports fast, reliable and flexible wireless service and actually cuts costs in the long run.
For most organizations, a fast and reliable wireless environment has shifted from “need to have” to “have to have”. It’s no longer a convenience, it’s a requirement.
But a strong wireless environment needs a resilient network infrastructure to support it. If your organization isn’t quite up to speed yet, you have a lot of options. New technologies can help you leapfrog into a cutting-edge wi-fi environment, delivering a faster, more consistent network connection that’s more secure than ever. It can also save you money, time and stress.
Huntington University Decides to Streamline
Huntington University serves more than 1,200 students over two campuses in Indiana and Arizona. The university had one wireless solution in place for faculty and administration, and another one that served student housing.
Administration at Huntington was ready to bring their networking environment into the 21st century. The networking service for the residential halls was an ongoing expense they wanted to reduce – and it was also a potential security risk. Since the university didn’t manage those systems, the IT staff didn’t have access to it and was unable to secure it to their standards. They wanted a single network access control (NAC) system that would cover both of its campuses.
Matrix began the IT consulting engagement by assessing the current state of the university’s technology and what needed to be changed to support Huntington’s vision for the future. We consulted with IT staff members and administrators on what they needed. We also examined campus maps and uncovered where users required access points and what kinds of devices they used in which locations.
When we finalized our analysis, we provided the university with a design as well as several options for networking solutions.
Modernizing Infrastructure While Cutting Costs
The solution that was chosen included restructuring the core of the university’s fiber and switching infrastructure, along with a redesign of the wireless landscape. The university chose to increase access point density in order to serve the multitude of devices used across campus.
Even better, the addition of hardware and infrastructure modernization ultimately cut the university’s costs in half. Because of the newly installed network access control (NAC) system, they can easily see who and what is on the network; including guest users. They can proactively monitor the activity of users and devices which cuts down on administration time and greatly enhances security. By consolidating their internet services in-house, they eliminated the complexity involved in maintaining divided network services.
At Matrix, we’ve done a large number of network infrastructure upgrades for different sizes and types of organizations. In addition to each organization’s individual goals, we also provide solutions that accomplish three things:
- Ease of Use
- Visibility
- Enhanced Security
Two essential components of a robust network infrastructure are a properly designed network environment and a network access control (NAC) system. The result is a predictable experience, faster speeds, and reliable support for the ever changing IoT landscape. For Huntington, as with most of our clients, the solution also includes drastically reduced costs, # of service requests and stress.
Do you provide a wireless environment for faculty, staff, students or clients? Would you like to improve your experience as well as cut costs down the line? Contact us to learn more!
