Wireless Network Upgrade
The Wireless Network Upgrade was jointly funded from the JCU Capital Plan and the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) Teaching and Learning Capital (TLC) Fund.
The goal of project was to upgrade and improve Wireless Access on the Cairns and Townsville campuses.The aims of the project have been to improve upon and expand existing coverage, improve capacity and to provide a more reliable service to staff and students. The wireless upgrade provides a reliable, centrally managed wireless network that supports staff and students for mobile research, teaching and learning and administration.
Coverage was expanded from approximately 80 access points to over 480 access points across the Townsville and Cairns campuses. Over 14,000 unique devices have been seen on the wireless network since January 1st 2011 with daily statistics showing simultaneous users peaking at 400+ users and bandwidth utilisation peaking at 300-400Mbps.The MERU technology allows JCU to mitigate against rogue access points and misconfigured devices and thus disruption to the service. Security will be further enhanced by the introduction of WPA2 as a standard access requirement by 2012.
Overall feedback has been positive and the new network has proved very reliable. The new wireless network is providing significantly improved coverage and capacity. The wireless network upgrade has shown that wireless is highly utilised and will continue to grow in importance with the increasing numbers of wireless devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops.
Coverage now includes almost every building on the main campus in Townsville and every building on the Cairns Campus.Those areas without coverage are either by request or due to upcoming building works which will provide for the wireless requirements in future; see Wireless Coverage and FAQs. The Townsville Campus Buildings, Marine & Tropical Biology Building 23 and Molecular Sciences Building 21 will be completed as refurbishment work proceeds.
It includes EDURoam. This service allows visiting colleagues from participating EDURoam institutions to seamlessly connect to wireless using their own login credentials. Conversely it allows JCU staff and students visiting participating EDURoam institutions to seamlessly connect using their JCU login credentials. See the EDURoam website for more information including EDURoam Coverage.
While the project is at completion, this does not mean wireless will not be expanded in future. Wireless access, along with other ICT Services, is considered by Facilities Management Office Project Managers in the project design for all new building and major refurbishment projects. There are still some areas where wireless coverage requires further enhancement, such as outdoor areas where students and staff congregate for informal discussion and collaboration.These areas were not included in the original project scope, but they will be reviewed as the university modernises campus facilities and includes proposed projects in relation to the Verandah Walk, Rotary International, University Halls and George Roberts.