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Case Study

802.11n the Logical Leap in Higher Ed

By: Linda L Briggs

10/21/2008

For colleges and universities considering a wireless network upgrade anytime soon, whether or not to go with the new, not-yet-final 802.11n standard is a tough call.

On one hand, the new protocol offers tantalizingly fast raw data rates of up to 300 Mbps in best-case scenarios, along with multiple antennas for better performance, the ability to run in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz spectrum, and other design improvements. That's a dramatic leap from the current fastest WiFi standard, 802.11g, which runs at up to 54 Mbps and uses the same 2.4 GHz spectrum as 802.11b.

Also on the plus side, many newer notebook computers are already 802.11n draft spec-compliant, so plenty of students and faculty are ready for the new standard, even if campuses aren't.

On the other hand, the final standard won't be approved until 2009. That leaves the door open to last-minute changes, although most observers agree that any major alterations are unlikely at this point. More to the point, with few campus deployments yet, higher education administrators don't have many examples to turn to for best practices in an 802.11n rollout.

Drexel University, a traditionally technology-heavy campus in the heart of Philadelphia, weighed the odds and has decided to jump to 802.11n, beginning with a limited deployment this summer. Drexel has chosen to work with Aruba Networks, which employs the 802.11n standard in its Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) technology. When it is complete this fall, Drexel's new wireless network will serve more than 40,000 wireless devices running either 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n, making it one of the largest 802.11n deployments yet in higher ed.

To Kenneth Blackney, associate vice president of core technology at Drexel, upgrading to 802.11n made sense. "You really have a choice whether you're going to believe in n or not," he said. "If you don't, you're going to deploy the same stuff you could have deployed four years ago. That's really not much of a leap."

Blackney said he isn't overly concerned about potential changes to the draft standard between now and when the final protocol is released by the international committee that manages wireless standards. In his opinion, too many wireless vendors have invested too much in the 802.11n standard now for any major changes to occur. "I look at this in terms of the economics for the companies making the infrastructure gear and the end-user gear.... It's Drexel's opinion that the cost of the standard not fitting what has already been deployed is too high, [so] those vendors are going to make it work, or they're going to find some ways to retro-fit [devices] with new firmware."


One big strength of 802.11n is that it runs in two wireless spectrums--both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. (The 802.11b and g standards run in the 2.