Management

There's No Negotiating Network Uptime

Higher ed institutions across the country are going all-in on network upgrades.

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Ryan Petersen has worked in publishing for more than two decades, most of it spent
creating award-winning content and strategy for CDW’s family of tech magazine brands. As
editor-in-chief, he works with his team to develop compelling and useful industry-focused
stories to share with the technology world. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys spending time with
his children, traveling, online gaming, and following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs
baseball.

On many college campuses today, we’re seeing a rapid shift toward faster, smarter networks that are capable not only of delivering information that’s essential for learning, but also pushing and pulling data — in real time — to researchers or from cloud-based storage solutions. New, smarter networks help IT administrators keep an eye on the facilities as well as security threats.

When it comes to delivering a truly 21st century college education, the network touches every aspect of academic, social and administrative life.

In our fall 2015 edition of EdTech: Focus on Higher Education, we present the stories of several institutions that have gone all in on upgrading their networks, how they tackled a project of such scale and what they learned along the way.

"How Colleges Are Rethinking Network Infrastructure to Support Student Demand" shares insights and best practices from Governors State University’s recent upgrade. That institution expanded from a two-year college to a full-fledged, four-year university. Officials there say the network upgrade was an important part of that transformation.

“It’s a whole different kind of campus now — it’s a whole different kind of university,” CIO Pete Mizera says. “Improving the backbone and implementing the wireless mesh was part of getting ready for that.”

“Video Powers a Global Education Experience” details how universities have equipped their teams to manage networks and IT even at overseas campuses.

As the network becomes the lifeline of modern colleges and universities, ensuring its availability 24 hours a day, 365 days a year has become one of IT’s main challenges.

“Response Teams Stay Ready for Potential Campus Emergencies” shares how several forward-looking institutions address disaster preparedness and continuity of operations planning when the ability to communicate quickly may mean the difference between an incident and a tragedy.

For most of us, network uptime is non-negotiable. At EdTech, we’re here to help your teams keep the network humming, no matter what.

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