UCIT, UC Community and Partners Celebrate 100 Percent Wireless Campus

It took roughly 547 days, 381 floors, 95 buildings and a team of 20 University of Cincinnati Information Technologies staff to transition UC to a 100 percent wireless campus. And those are numbers UCIT celebrated.

Interim Provost Larry Johnson joined the UCIT team, their partners from ARUBA and Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions (CBTS) and guests from the UC community Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at a ‘100% Wireless Reception’ held at Mick & Mack’s.

The wireless buildout was done in two phases as a part of the UC2019 strategic plan. Work began in June 2011 to bring wireless to all university residence halls and wrapped up in late December 2012 with wireless coverage in every building and many green spaces on campus, including McMicken Lawn, CCM Plaza and Sigma Sigma Commons. Under the plan’s operational principle of learning, the supporting goal of transitioning the campus to 100 percent wireless was set to be accomplished within five years.

“We accomplished this goal in less than two years, and that’s because UC recognized how important the investment in wireless access is for our future,” said Nelson Vincent, vice president of UC Information Technologies. “Robust wireless coverage on campus provides key support for the UC2019 strategic plan. Anytime, anywhere access to digital resources and tools throughout UC’s buildings and dorms is an important milestone for increased digital capacity that directly supports 21st Century teaching, learning and research.”

Before the project began, there were 3,000 to 3,500 simultaneous user connections on the wireless network that consisted of just 700 access points. Today, there are 35,000 to 38,000 simultaneous devices connected to the 4,000 access point network.

“We must have had the right idea, because we built it and they came” said Diana Noelcke, director IT UCIT-Enterprise Communications.

Noelcke and her team planned and implemented the project with the support of equipment, analysis and configuration from ARUBA and CBTS.