MARCH/APRIL 2015
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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management system] and do their
quizzes online. To take a quiz online, a
student needs reliable Internet service."
In addition, students do most of their
research online today. "No one goes to
the library anymore!" Wojenski says.
Eventually, the foundation decided
to exit the housing business, and in
August 2014, NDG, which by then had
developed many other student housing
projects, purchased the property and
decided to bring it up to date.
"Te frst thing on the list to take
care of was to completely modernize the
connectivity to provide new Wi-Fi and
the best service out there," Wojenski
says. NDG turned to Campus
Technologies, a leading technology
provider to both on- and of-campus
collegiate housing, to design, construct,
operate and support the new network.
NDG had worked with Campus
Technologies on a previous student
housing project, and Wojenski
describes the technology solution
there as "innovative." Tis time, NDG
presented Campus Technologies with
a formidable challenge: completely
replacing the technology solution over
the students' winter break.
Campus Technologies realized
that, to meet students' needs, the
property would need a fber backbone.
Before winter break started, it secured
a 10 Gbps-capable fber from Level 3
Communications, which is terminated
in one building of the complex. It then
laid fber to the other three buildings
so the entire property could be
managed as a single network and
students would have Wi-Fi access
wherever they were in the complex.
Tat left less than three weeks for all
the inside construction and for delivery
of a fully functional system.
Because students use both mobile
devices and desktop computers, the
wired and wireless networks both
had to be powerful and reliable.
(Andrew Marshall, CEO of Campus
Technologies, estimates that students
spend the great majority of their time
on the wireless network, but he says
the wired network provides the best
UP at Metroplex serves the students of Binghamton University.