The technology research firm Gartner predicts there
will be 20 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020. That bandwidth
demand will make it difficult for colleges and universities to find ways to
expand their use of technology.
To meet anticipated needs, institutions should be able
to provide at least 1GB for each residential student, according to a 2016 study
from the Association of College and University Technology Advancement. The
study also found that nearly 70% of the universities surveyed were already
providing that much bandwidth for their students.
Schools must also accept that students have to be
connected in the classroom, which means campuses must be expanding their technology
capabilities while setting up guidelines to maintain control of the network. To
accomplish this, universities may have to collaborate with local partners to make
faster networks available for students and the surrounding community.
“The
digital transformation is here to stay,” Ivo Pascucci, an expert on the
American telecommunications market, wrote in an article for eCampus News.
“It is now up to universities to invest in network infrastructure that scales
for the future. IT administrators will need to develop a plan that expects to
handle cloud storage, millions of devices, virtual reality, 4K and 8K video,
and research initiatives.”