Networking & Wireless

Holy Cross High Implements Wi-Fi Network

• By Leila Meyer
• 05/19/15

Holy Cross High School, a private school located in Waterbury, CT, has implemented a wireless network to serve more than 650 students, faculty, staff and guests.

According to Tim McDonald, president of the school, different groups of people in the school access the Internet "at different times in the day, on different devices in a variety of different places in the building," and the school wanted a provider that could tailor a solution to meet the school's complex needs.

They worked with Resolute Partners, a company that engineers, installs, operates and maintains Internet access and wireless networks for schools and other organizations. Resolute's engineers conducted an on-site review to "determine the best hardware and locations that would deliver the required level of Wi-Fi coverage in specified areas throughout the school," according to information from the company. As part of the site review process, Resolute considered the school's coverage and capacity requirements, the type of technology students were using and the school's future plans.

Based on that site review, the school decided to proceed with the implementation. The process involved installing fiber optic cabling, identifying intermediate distribution facility (IDF) locations, installing wireless access points and upgrading the network backbone. Once the hardware implementation was complete, Resolute configured the network, including its service set IDs (SSID) and virtual local area networks (VLANs), and tested the entire setup.

The entire project took less than six weeks to complete and according to McDonald, the students, faculty and staff at the school are enjoying the new wireless network and the ability to access educational resources from their mobile devices.