Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Telecommunications
Fixed-Mobile Convergence: Dartmouth Beefs Up Cell Coverage, Cuts Costs
9/4/2008
|
|
To address that issue on its relatively remote campus near Hanover, NH, Dartmouth College is testing a new convergence solution in its IT group that switches a cell phone from the cellular network to Dartmouth's wireless network, and back again, depending on user location and signal strength.
In the process, Dartmouth's computing services department is saving significant amounts of money by slashing the number of cell phone minutes staff consume, according to Director of Technical Service David Bucciero. He has distributed 21 phones so far, and plans to eventually deploy 100. At that point, Bucciero will decide whether to recommend that Dartmouth deploy the technology across campus. "We have to get through this pilot, up to about a hundred phones, then assess where we are. Then we'll understand better the next steps," he said.
Under the new technology, the move from cell coverage to the wireless network is transparent to the user, who might trigger the switch while entering a building, for example, while on a cell phone call. Software loaded onto the cell phone detects the weakened cell signal and a strong wireless signal, and switches the caller to Dartmouth's wireless network. From there, the call is routed to the college's enterprise voice-over-IP system. The technology is carrier-agnostic--it works regardless of the user's cellular service provider.
Cell phone users who previously had no coverage within certain areas in many of Dartmouth's buildings, now have excellent coverage because they are being switched to the wireless data network. That's a big improvement in coverage on a campus on which, Bucciero estimated, "probably upwards of 40 percent of the campus doesn't have good cell coverage," often because a user is in a basement or another difficult-to-cover building location.
Dartmouth, a higher education leader in wireless networks, has long had an extensive and mature campus-wide network from Aruba Networks consisting of 802.11a, b and g standards. It is also testing the pending 802.11n standard. The college has long been known for leading the way in communications technology: It rolled out a campus-wide wireless network in 2001 and introduced voice over IP in dorms in 2003. Under that system, faculty, staff, and students have the option of downloading software to their computers or using VoIP companion phones to make local or long-distance phone calls over the Internet.
Recommended Reading
- Georgia Tech Helps Develop Web-based Tool To Improve Blood Supply
The Georgia Tech College of Computing, working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has developed a Web-based tool for tracking blood safety. The program is expected to help developing countries improve the adequacy and safety of their national blood supplies through better monitoring and evaluation.
- Mississippi State Implements Reflex Virtual Management Center
Mississippi State University has implemented Reflex VMC (Virtual Management Center) from Reflex Systems. The application allows IT administrators to monitor a virtual infrastructure and enforce business and IT policies.
- Stanford Law School Launches IP Litigation Clearinghouse
The Law, Science & Technology Program at Stanford Law School has launched the Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse (IPLC), an online database that offers comprehensive information about intellectual property (IP) disputes within the United States.
- Texas A&M Health Science Center Adopts Banner Administrative Management
The Texas A&M Health Science Center has selected the Banner Unified Digital Campus (UDC) from Sungard Higher Education to help unify its geographically-dispersed community and to enhance and expand services and communications to its growing student enrollment.
- NCCC: Data Cleansing Key To Managing Growth
Community colleges are in a good spot in some ways during the economic downturn, as tight family budgets drive up the appeal of the community college option. But along with the rest of higher education, most community colleges also face shrinking IT budgets and tighter resources. That makes it that much harder to handle the growing enrollment numbers that some community colleges are seeing.
- Finjan: Layoffs Could Drive IT People To Become Cyber-Criminals
Security vendor Finjan predicts that the current economic downturn could herald a sharp rise in cybercrime during 2009--driven by the rise in the number of IT people being laid off. According to a report from the company's Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC), more unemployed IT personnel will be tempted to seek "new and easy income by purchasing and using crimeware toolkits that are sold by professional hackers."
