Wi-Fi connects the uOttawa community
Bell case study: University of Ottawa
By Staff
February 25, 2011
February 25, 2011
When bringing wireless connectivity to the staff and students at the University of Ottawa proved a challenge, university CIO Sylvain Chalut partnered with Bell Business Markets to provide the necessary expertise and support. The university wasn’t entirely new to the wireless world; it had supplied wireless connections to researchers on an ad hoc basis. But with the turn of the century—and increases in Wi-Fi hotspots around the university—expectations for wireless connectivity across the university’s two campuses grew.
“Students and faculty were no longer asking for wireless, but demanding it,” Chalut explains. “They started arriving on campus with laptops. Now, students are even moving away from laptops to other wireless Internet-capable devices.”
The university found that despite its IT team’s experiences with wireless, it needed a partner to guide and support a large-scale implementation of more than 2,300 access points in more than 35 buildings. In 2007, it launched an RFP and selected Bell Canada’s Business Markets, because its consulting team had the engineering skills and architectural expertise to meet the university’s needs.
It was a true partnership, where Bell provided expertise in project management, consultation and integration, allowing the university staff to focus on infrastructure enhancements. Bell also provided training and knowledge transfer on new wireless technologies. Chalut says, “Bell worked with us to design and implement a solution that was secure, scalable and flexible. We worked together to find solutions that best suited the needs of our users.”
Challenges of architecture
One of the larger challenges faced by the university was the very history found in its walls. The university’s buildings included modern structures, with ample amounts of glass, and older ones with heavy masonry. Some older heritage buildings had electrical power problems to deal with, and some buildings were designed in ways that made it difficult to propagate the radio wavelengths required for Wi-Fi.
While these buildings presented some new discoveries for Bell experts, they also had previous experience with heritage buildings to fall back on, and incorporated testing tools that could confirm the wireless signal strength to be expected at any location across the campus.
In addition, there were challenges with the existing wired infrastructure in the background. Each of the wireless access points needed to be connected in a grid to the university wiring closets. The university’s communication backbone had to increase in capacity to handle the traffic.
Top-notch security needs
The size and scope of the university is like that of a small city, with growing and evolving needs. Its community of staff and students represent a range in technology experience and needs, creating a challenge in ensuring proper security.
“We wanted to have the ability to protect our users and ensure that their wireless experience was a safe one; it was a big priority for us to provide secure connections for our users,” said Chalut.
In addition, unlike an enterprise environment that has control over the devices on the network, the university had to instead create an infrastructure (and security mechanisms) that could handle the increasing variety of devices—iPhones, smartphones, netbooks, tablets—with which students connect.
Bell deployed the Aruba Networks wireless solutions that have many integrated security features, including the policy-enforcement firewalls the university needed built in.
New capabilities, reinvigorated education
With its new inter-campus wireless infrastructure, the university in partnership with Bell has improved the way uOttawa does business, assists studies and interacts with one another.
“Professors tell me that the wireless network has brought back to the university a sense of community that had been lost. The community is connecting more to tools and resources but especially more with each other,” says Chalut. With Bell’s flexible and scalable solution, these connections will surely grow and strengthen as the University continues to develop its wireless network.
“The wireless network is experiencing increased usage,” Chalut notes. “Not only are we seeing heavy use of the wireless, we’re getting demands for more wireless services. Students want to be able to connect anytime and anywhere on campus, including outdoors. Professors, more and more, are streaming high-quality video from the Internet and demand the growth of our wireless services.”
To find out more, dowload the whitepaper or view the webinar at bell.ca/upstreamsecurity
PDF (600KB)
“Students and faculty were no longer asking for wireless, but demanding it,” Chalut explains. “They started arriving on campus with laptops. Now, students are even moving away from laptops to other wireless Internet-capable devices.”
The university found that despite its IT team’s experiences with wireless, it needed a partner to guide and support a large-scale implementation of more than 2,300 access points in more than 35 buildings. In 2007, it launched an RFP and selected Bell Canada’s Business Markets, because its consulting team had the engineering skills and architectural expertise to meet the university’s needs.
It was a true partnership, where Bell provided expertise in project management, consultation and integration, allowing the university staff to focus on infrastructure enhancements. Bell also provided training and knowledge transfer on new wireless technologies. Chalut says, “Bell worked with us to design and implement a solution that was secure, scalable and flexible. We worked together to find solutions that best suited the needs of our users.”
Challenges of architecture
One of the larger challenges faced by the university was the very history found in its walls. The university’s buildings included modern structures, with ample amounts of glass, and older ones with heavy masonry. Some older heritage buildings had electrical power problems to deal with, and some buildings were designed in ways that made it difficult to propagate the radio wavelengths required for Wi-Fi.
While these buildings presented some new discoveries for Bell experts, they also had previous experience with heritage buildings to fall back on, and incorporated testing tools that could confirm the wireless signal strength to be expected at any location across the campus.
In addition, there were challenges with the existing wired infrastructure in the background. Each of the wireless access points needed to be connected in a grid to the university wiring closets. The university’s communication backbone had to increase in capacity to handle the traffic.
Top-notch security needs
The size and scope of the university is like that of a small city, with growing and evolving needs. Its community of staff and students represent a range in technology experience and needs, creating a challenge in ensuring proper security.
“We wanted to have the ability to protect our users and ensure that their wireless experience was a safe one; it was a big priority for us to provide secure connections for our users,” said Chalut.
In addition, unlike an enterprise environment that has control over the devices on the network, the university had to instead create an infrastructure (and security mechanisms) that could handle the increasing variety of devices—iPhones, smartphones, netbooks, tablets—with which students connect.
Bell deployed the Aruba Networks wireless solutions that have many integrated security features, including the policy-enforcement firewalls the university needed built in.
New capabilities, reinvigorated education
With its new inter-campus wireless infrastructure, the university in partnership with Bell has improved the way uOttawa does business, assists studies and interacts with one another.
“Professors tell me that the wireless network has brought back to the university a sense of community that had been lost. The community is connecting more to tools and resources but especially more with each other,” says Chalut. With Bell’s flexible and scalable solution, these connections will surely grow and strengthen as the University continues to develop its wireless network.
“The wireless network is experiencing increased usage,” Chalut notes. “Not only are we seeing heavy use of the wireless, we’re getting demands for more wireless services. Students want to be able to connect anytime and anywhere on campus, including outdoors. Professors, more and more, are streaming high-quality video from the Internet and demand the growth of our wireless services.”
To find out more, dowload the whitepaper or view the webinar at bell.ca/upstreamsecurity
PDF (600KB)
