SIU isn’t alone in developing a mobile strategy to meet students’ needs. According to the 2013 Campus Computing Project survey, implementing and supporting mobile computing is among the top five priorities for campus IT departments—and tablets and smart phones have overtaken laptops in terms of importance for IT planning.
“Colleges and universities are clearly playing catch-up with the consumer experience,” said Casey Green, director of the Campus Computing Project. “Students come to campus with their smart phones and tablets, expecting to use mobile apps to navigate campus resources and use campus services.”
The shift in focus from laptops to tablets and smart phones suggests that campus IT leaders are trying to anticipate future needs, Green added, by “skating to where the digital puck is going.”
But that has created a host of challenges for campus leaders, many of whom are struggling to meet the bandwidth demands of device-using students.
One solution to emerge this year is the outsourcing of residential network management services to private contractors. Five universities announced Nov. 13 that they would hand over network services to Apogee, a leader in ResNet management.
Another development that could help is the emergence of faster, more reliable Wi-Fi technology.
Providers of wireless access points and other equipment have started to release products that conform with a next-generation standard, called “gigabit Wi-Fi,” that has the potential to be up to four times as fast as the current 802.11n technology.
The new technology, 802.11ac, is designed to relieve network congestion by increasing speeds to more than 1 gigabit per second and moving from the congested 2.4-gigahertz frequency band to the more open 5-gigahertz spectrum.
The changes should mean that wireless routers and access points will be able to accommodate more devices at one time and provide better coverage throughout a campus. In areas crowded with other electronics, the 5 GHz spectrum also offers the promise of less interference, meaning connections shouldn’t randomly drop.
But to take advantage of the faster speeds and wider bandwidth, both ends of a transmission must have the new technology. There is also a tradeoff in terms of signal range—about 20 percent less than with 802.11n—and the new technology is more expensive, at least for now.
See also:
Special Report: Powering the Mobile Campus
Students’ reliance on Wi-Fi multiplies
Study: Campuses lack mobile and BYOD policies, despite concerns
Three things you might not know about tablets on campus
Dialing up a classroom distraction
What’s hogging bandwidth on college campuses?
Wireless connections prove clunky, trip up students
The outsourcing of campus ResNet services is here
Faster, more reliable Wi-Fi on its way
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