Today’s college students arrive on campus expecting
fast and reliable Internet connection. At the same time, many institutions have
implemented bring-your-own-device policies that make providing the connection
even more important.
The mix of educational needs and recreational usage is
stretching network capacity to the limit. In order to work efficiently,
networks must be able to prioritize what usage is important and even block what
isn’t, according to a column for eCampus News.
The first step in addressing the problem is to
understand current usage, according to Bruce Miller, vice president, product
marketing, for Xirrus Wi-Fi Network. Miller identified streaming media, cloud
backups and updates, virtual private networks (VPN), and social media as the
applications that are the biggest bandwidth hogs an institution must deal with.
Streaming media, such as movies, is the largest problem, but cloud backups can
also be an issue because they move gigabytes of data at a time.
“True
enterprise Wi-Fi systems must have the ability to identify, prioritize, and
limit applications appropriately to ensure a good user experience for those who
use the network and approach utility-grade nirvana,” Miller wrote.
