Case Studies
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Patented Wi-Fi Array Provides Advanced Wireless Network to Carter G. Woodson Collegiate Academy
The Carter G. Woodson Collegiate Academy is a college preparatory high school serving students in grades nine through 12. The Collegiate Academy offers a diversity of enrichment programs designed to support academic achievement and individual student development. Challenging and relevant, Collegiate’s comprehensive curriculum prepares students for college and the world of work in a global economy. Students benefit from a broad offering of Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors courses, as well as Career Academy courses that provide pathways to technology, science, engineering, law and communication arts.
In an effort to continue to prepare students and faculty for the challenges that lie ahead, a high performing wireless network that blanketed the entire campus was deployed. The resulting Xirrus Wi-Fi network provided ubiquitous coverage and high bandwidth for fast, reliable Internet access while also providing network access to the school’s legacy server applications.
Ubiquitous Coverage – Multiple Classroom Usage
During the typical school day, students in multiple classrooms will be using the Wi-Fi network so coverage and capacity where critical issues that needed to be addressed by the Wi-Fi network. The Wi-Fi Array’s directional, sectored antenna system and its large number of integrated radios provided the needed coverage and bandwidth (capacity) to meet the school’s requirement of 20 students per radio – and was able to blanket the entire campus using only 16 Wi-Fi Arrays.
“We needed to offer reliable and high-speed wireless Internet access for research as part of our commitment to providing state-of-the-art facilities to our students and faculty,” said Donald L. Hense, Chairman, Friendship Public Charter School.
Carter G. Woodson also deployed the Xirrus Management System (XMS) which provides a centralized mechanism for managing the 16 Wi-Fi Arrays at Layer 3. The XMS handles configuration changes, policy creation and reporting functionality for the Wi-Fi Arrays making management a snap.
A total of 16 Wi-Fi Arrays were used throughout the three building campus and the following image highlights the power of a Xirrus Wi-Fi network as it shows five Wi-Fi Arrays covering the entire 3rd floor of Buildings A, B and C.
Sierra Corporation was responsible for the installation of the Xirrus equipment. “At Sierra, we offer only the best products to our customers, and Xirrus’ Wi-Fi solution is just that--the most comprehensive set of products we’ve seen in the market,” said Rassul B. Hashemi, President, Sierra Corporation. “Our partnership with Xirrus, allows us to give our clients a Wi-Fi product that offers twice the range and four times the coverage, making it an ideal solution for schools and other large facilities deploying.”
The Xirrus Advantage
The current generation of Wi-Fi networks can’t keep pace with the trajectory of needed wireless capacity and coverage for today’s schools. By combining up to 16 radios with an onboard Gigabit Switch, Wi-Fi Controller, Firewall, and dedicated Wi-Fi Threat Sensor into a single device, Xirrus delivers 2X the range, 4X the coverage, 14X the throughput, and requires 75% less devices and installation time compared to any competitive solution.
The deployment represents how great technology and an excellent partner can deliver a high performing, resilient and scalable Wi-Fi network.
