7:23:00 AM
Washington International School Moves to 802.11n WiFi
Washington International School in Washington, DC has overhauled what it described as an "inadequate legacy network," replacing it with an 802.11n wireless network.
According to Chad Fairey, director of information services for the school, the new wireless network--built around Xirrus WiFi arrays--required about half the number of devices for full coverage of the school's facilities.
"During the Xirrus site survey," he said, "[Xirrus was] very thoughtful of how the wireless signals would be affected when students were present. A lot of other companies will give you a map based on mathematics, but won't consider the moving bodies of water the students and faculty represent. This was a major advantage for Xirrus and I'm convinced we made the right choice for our wireless implementation."
He also said scalability was a critical factor in implementing the new network.
"If we add 300 laptops to the campus next year," he said, "we wanted a system that can scale to meet those demands. We are confident the central management tool and the planning tools that are inherent in the Xirrus product will support our future requirements. The architecture of the Array allows us to directionally focus the WiFi signal strength, providing a lot of flexibility and control over our network."
Washington International School serves about 900 students from more than 90 countries and has a student-faculty ratio of 8.2:1. Its budget was $25.2 million this school year.