[IP] College Users Fill the Pipe
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 21, 2004 8:56:47 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] College Users Fill the Pipe
Reply-To: dewayne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[Note: I had the pleasure to visit the Dartmouth campus a few weeks
ago and to meet with Brad Noblet. The college is indeed very leading
edge and far as deploying and making innovative uses of wireless
technologies. They plan to stay at the cutting edge, come hell or high
water! <g> DLH]
College Users Fill the Pipe
Dartmouth College's network—and its users—are very similar to the
network and users of most ISPs, except that the college users take
advantage of all the bandwidth. What's being deployed at Dartmouth know
gives us a glimpse of what may be deployed elsewhere in the future
by Alex Goldman
ISP-Planet Managing Editor
[September 21, 2004]
<http://www.isp-planet.com/fixed_wireless/business/2004/dartmouth.html>
Hanover, N.H.-based Dartmouth College is well-known in wireless circles
for being one of the first colleges to embrace Wi-Fi technology.
Recently, the college went through a network upgrade.
The original network, says Brad Noblet, Dartmouth director of
technical services, cost $1.2 million. That covered 200 access points
(APs) and the wiring they required. "Now we want to go to 1,500 APs."
But that's not all. The original Cisco APs were 802.11b only, and now
the college wants to serve 802.11a, b, and g, using Aruba 52 APs.
Of course, the college doesn't sell wireless, so that's not the
problem. "People on the campus love wireless. The challenge is
capacity," explains Noblet.
These are heavy users. Students do language lab classes from their own
room using video over IP, for example, and Noblet admits that heavy use
of video on the network presents a real capacity challenge.
"802.11a is good for this, because it provides a lot of bandwidth.
Also, it's orthogonal, which is good for a campus with a lot of
reflections and interference." The problem with 802.11a is that you get
a much shorter range out of it. Noblet estimates it provides full rate
only if you're within 120 feet of the base station.
So the college is looking at other technologies, too (just as WISPs
across the country are experimenting with everything new). "We're
experimenting with mesh technology," says Noblet. He feels it's
especially useful for a problem some colleges face. When the incoming
class is larger than expected, the college builds temporary student
housing. If you need to hook up temporary buildings quickly, mesh is a
great way to do it.
However, APs in such buildings need to have power. Noblet would love
to be able to supply power through microwave, just as other APs get
power over Ethernet, but the technology is not yet available.
The toughest problem of a larger network is management. "The network
is open. Visitors can plug in and log on. Authentication does not solve
virus problems. We have to authenticate and patch users before they log
on."
For permanent off campus housing, not the temporary structures, Noblet
prefers to run fiber above ground along utility poles. "They have an
obligation to allow us to run fiber on the poles, but they're in no
hurry," he complains. ISPs across the nation know exactly what that's
like. In a few cases, Noblet has been forced to turn on DSL circuits
while waiting for the fiber paperwork to go through.
Given all of these constraints, it may seem surprising that Noblet's
expanding the network at all. But as every service provider is finding,
there are more applications for IP every day. It may not be true
everywhere that if you build it they will come, but if you're a college
and you're offering free, high quality service, you will find that
service used to the limit.
Archives at: <http://Wireless.Com/Dewayne-Net>
Weblog at: <http://weblog.warpspeed.com>
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