THOUSAND OAKS, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 22, 2014) - Today, Xirrus, the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks, announced the deployment of its wireless solutions at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Mo. Campus administrators implemented the Xirrus network to provide wireless connectivity for the university's 7,000 students across 90 percent of the campus. The wireless network is being used for online testing, and has supported a 100 percent increase in device connections and connectivity across buildings to date. Additionally, the wireless network equipment serves 2,500 students in multiple campus housing buildings. On average, the university observes between three and five devices per student in the residence halls.
"Since the Xirrus network has been implemented, we are able to support bandwidth-hungry applications simultaneously on hundreds of devices in a lecture hall," said Timothy Carlyle, director of network computing and senior UNIX administrator at Northwest Missouri State University. "The network was deployed extremely quickly with stellar coverage and a comprehensive view into the user density and device usage on the campus. This insight is invaluable to us as the volume of mobile devices continues to grow exponentially."
To roll out online testing across the campus, the IT department created a single standard classroom profile and deployed the profile to all classrooms simultaneously, saving considerable time and manpower. After the success of pervasive Wi-Fi implemented in the classrooms, the wireless network was expanded to include Bearcat Arena, which hosts the basketball and volleyball teams and seats 2,500 people. Four-hundred Xirrus access points and Arrays are now being used across campus, covering 50 structures and serving 3,000 simultaneous users during peak periods.
Prior to implementation of the Xirrus network, the campus contained a single point of network failure with a single controller housed in the basement of the campus library. As a result, a controller failure could shut down the wireless network -- impacting multiple buildings across the campus. With Xirrus, this problem has been eliminated with controller functionality contained within each access point and Array -- improving both speed and performance.
"Higher education institutions fundamentally need to be able to deliver a robust wireless experience for their students and faculty," said Bruce Miller, vice president of product marketing at Xirrus. "Students are showing up on campus with as many as eight Wi-Fi capable devices. Given the massive load this can present to the network, schools must put the infrastructure in place to keep pace and best serve students."
About Northwest Missouri State University
Northwest offers 135 undergraduate programs and 36 master's programs. The Business, Education, Geography and Agriculture departments graduate the largest number of students each year. Career Services offers an "Exploring Majors" fair where students can learn about different majors on campus and find which major is the perfect fit for them.
About Xirrus, Inc.
Xirrus is the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks. Xirrus solutions perform under the most demanding circumstances, offering consistent "wired-like" performance with superior coverage and security. The Xirrus suite of WI-FI optimized solutions -- Arrays, access points, cloud services, and wired switches -- provide seamless connectivity and unified management across the network. Xirrus provides a vital strategic business and IT infrastructure advantage to industries that depend on wireless to operate business-critical applications. With tens of thousands of customer solutions deployed globally, Xirrus maintains operations and partnerships across the globe. Xirrus is a privately held company and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA. For more information please visit: www.xirrus.com and follow us on Twitter: @Xirrus.
Xirrus and XR Series are trademarks or registered trademarks of Xirrus. Other trade names used in this document are or may be the property of their respective owners.