EdTech highlights Elon's investment in wireless network technologies

The article by the higher education technology media outlet includes insights from Christopher Waters, assistant vice president for technology and chief information officer. 

A recent article in EdTech, a leading media outlet that looks at technology in higher education, features the great strides Elon has made to expand and upgrade its wireless network in residence halls and across campus. 

The article by contributor Chris Hayhurst includes a focus on removing ethernet ports from residence hall rooms because of the complications they meant for the university’s wireless network. 

“At first, we took a look and it didn’t make any sense, because we had a robust wireless network with plenty of bandwidth,” Christopher waters, assistant vice president for technology and chief information officer, told the reporter. “But what we discovered was those ports were part of the problem.” If a student plugged a printer into a wall jack, for example, “it would emulate its own identity, and their neighbor would try to log in to it.”

The situation wasn’t much better on the wireless front, the article notes. “You would see students setting up their wireless game systems and deciding to name them ‘Elon,’” Waters says. “These actions were causing a lot of confusion. We realized there had to be a better way.”

The article goes on to detail Elon’s innovative approach to addressing these issues, approaches that other campuses can learn from. 

Read the entire article here