Colleges shift focus to high-density coverage for BYOD accessibility

This year, the bill for college gear – including computers, smartphones, wireless printers, tablets, iPods, Xboxes, handheld gaming systems, e-readers, smart TVs, Blu-ray players and Wi-Fi-enabled pens – will reach $45.8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

You name the device, today’s college student will bring it to campus, connect it to the campus network and use it simultaneously with multiple other wireless devices. They also want to use them everywhere on campus – in the classroom, the student union, the library, dorm commons, or dorm room.

They want instant access and want the campus network to perform like their network at home. Add to the connectivity equation the school’s administration and faculty, who also have a myriad of devices they use to teach, stay connected, and do their jobs.

Offering a 24×7 connection to a school’s network in highly dense configurations is the new normal for IT professionals at universities. Luckily, university IT professionals were on the forefront of the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement, because they serve such a mobile constituency.

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