Developing an Advanced Network
from the "Ground Up"
By Jacques Laflamme, CIO, New England Institute of Technology
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The opening of New England Institute of Technology’s (NEIT) first-ever 400-bed “Smart Technology” residence hall and new 42,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art student center during the summer of 2017 presented great opportunities for innovation from the university’s IT department. The challenge was balancing these two major construction projects located at NEIT’s main campus in East Greenwich, Rhode Island with an IT team tasked with many existing assignments and evolving day-to-day responsibilities.
Because it was the university’s first residence hall, New England Institute of Technology had a clean slate to work with from an IT perspective. The primary IT infrastructure objective was simple: pursue the things that could best enhance the student experience. First and foremost, NEIT had to architect a true campus physical infrastructure to include man-holes and conduits with underground fiber optic cable, scalable enough to meet future growth of the university.
Next and equally as important: Wi-Fi -- fast, campus-wide and lots of it. As recently as 10 years ago, most college students didn’t own a laptop let alone a tablet or smartphone. Students now arrive on campus with as many as five or six different devices. Freeing up enough Wi-Fi and Internet bandwidth became paramount. That’s especially true at New England Tech where an extremely popular video game design curriculum adds to the Wi-Fi demand. Using Cisco’s 802.11ac Wave 2 technology, considered the best available in the fall of 2017, NEIT created a cutting-edge networking infrastructure, one capable of accommodating the ever-increasing network traffic demand.
With students now on campus around the clock, there was a need to also address evolving Internet requirements. With the help of OSHEAN, the university was able to
successfully re-architect its Internet solution improving availability and security while also increasing bandwidth.
Outfitting the residence hall, which consists of 13 “pods” of approximately 30 students each as well as lounges and study rooms, required a forward-facing approach. Beyond providing reliable Wi-Fi and Internet access, NEIT’s innovations are also behind some of the residence hall’s most exciting features, such as the network of large-screen televisions. New England Tech met common-area subscription TV and campus-wide digital signage demand by deploying an Exterity / Direct TV ipTV network. Students can also push content from their device, such as a video presentation or school project, to any available TV. Additionally, a forthcoming university-specific web application will allow students to access certain cable channels directly from their phone or laptop.
The residence hall’s top-to-bottom connectivity has even improved that most dreaded of college chores: doing laundry. Through a simple app, LaundryConnect, students are alerted when their washer or dryer cycles are complete. No more needless trips to the laundry room.
From planning to execution, New England Tech’s IT department worked diligently on these construction projects for two years to ensure that the new facilities met the Wi-Fi, Internet and network demands of residence students as well as the entire NEIT community. What started out as a major IT challenge ended as a great IT success story. For more information on New England Institute of Technology, please visit www.neit.edu.
6 | CURRENT FALL 2018