Fitzwilliam College, one of the larger colleges of the University of Cambridge, is home to over 750 undergraduates, graduate students and Fellows, including 160 students who live in College houses located up to half a mile from the main site. The scholars and academics have high expectations of IT provision, and Fitzwilliam’s IT department is responsible for ensuring that they have reliable access at all times to papers and documents stored on the University’s servers as well as the full range of normal internet services.
The story:
Fitzwilliam College IT department had successfully used wireless connectivity supplied by WIN for its student accommodation since 2004, both on the College site itself and in student accommodation nearby. By 2010, this needed updating and WIN’s engineering team worked with the College IT department to review the wideband wireless infrastructure. The resulting design was accepted and installed during the summer holiday period in 2010.
The base station population was increased to two west-facing installations at the north of the College and a single lighter installation at the south entrance, delivering an unprecedented throughput of greater than 300Mbps. With two repeater sites and a high measure of redundant routing the system now delivers high-availability managed IP services to all off-site premises to the north and south of the College.
WIN were able to upgrade both the base station and client systems, while maintaining the existing service, and deliver very high speed services to all of the client’s sites – ensuring the future of service delivery to students.
“WIN have enabled us to provide significantly improved internet connectivity to students who live off-site at a fraction of the cost of fixed lines or other commercial offerings. The service has always been personal and efficient; they know our site and environment so well that their solutions are optimised for our needs.”
Susan Park | IT Manager | Fitzwilliam College
The challenge:
Fitzwilliam College was one of the first colleges in Cambridge to use 5GHz wireless technology, installed by WIN in 2004. By 2010 this needed updating.
The solution:
WIN engineers worked closely with the College’s IT staff to design and implement a high-speed infrastructure, able to deliver a broader range of services to the College student accommodation across the north west of the City.
Contact us today or alternatively find out more about the services we offer or the different types of technology we use. You can also read more about how we have helped other Colleges and businesses improve their network connectivity by reading our case studies page.
