BCIT rolls out wireless blanket

The best advice Ian McLeod can offer to organizations seeking to build out a wieldy wireless implementation is to “start small.”

McLeod is the computer resources director for the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), which recently fulfilled the first stage of a three-year plan to deliver ubiquitous wireless access across its five-campus system. Both faculty and students alike wanted secure wireless at BCIT — the trick was how to deliver Wi-Fi safely and securely.

Wireless is a key part of BCIT’s Technology Enabled Knowledge (TEK) initiative, a seven-year undertaking to enhance teaching and learning through the innovative use of technology, McLeod said. “We wanted to activate and roll out wireless across all our campuses,” McLeod said.

The school features locations it terms Smart Learning Spaces (SLS), “technology-enhanced spaces” that integrate computer, multimedia and network infrastructure. BCIT concluded that the best way to accomplish this task was to develop a pilot program.

BCIT looked at several wireless vendors, McLeod said. BCIT has existing Nortel infrastructure, but this was right around the time when the airspace issue between Cisco and Nortel was up in the air, he said. “We were looking at both tech sets…we had, and are still using, Nortel power-over-Ethernet switches to power the access points. We weren’t sure how things were playing out.”

In choosing wireless, BCIT wanted a combination of new technology, low maintainance and scalability, “and the kind of product to give us easier-to-use authentication and security,” McLeod said.

In the end, BCIT selected Aruba Networks for its wireless needs. Specifically, the institution is using the vendor’s ­Aruba 6000 modular mobility controller that supports 250 Aruba access points deployed in key areas across BCIT’s Downtown, Marine, Aerospace Technology, Great Northern Way and Burnaby campuses. On completion, BCIT expects to see a configuration with three controllers managing approximately 750 access points in a redundant system.

BCIT initially started small, McLeod said, installing a series of power-over-Ethernet access points in open areas and conference areas — places where students and faculty informally use wireless. As an IT professional, McLeod noted that pain points were relatively non-existent, other than some initial and easily resolved supply issues at the outset. “We were worried about load balancing and scalability,” he said. “[But] access points are dumb —they were easy to install and no main issues…no pain.

“We ran a couple of large conferences ­— including an Inter­net2 Working Group conference for BCIT, which gave the installations a good workout. From there, we installed access points in (SLS) classrooms and lecture halls.”

The technology also does a good job of load balancing, he added. “To date we’ve rolled out 250 access points across all five campuses, 150 on the main Burnaby campus. We’ve seen very quick uptake…ramped up wireless and without a lot of advertising. Right now we’re looking at 5,000 to 6,000 connections per week from our students and faculty, with the average connect time of 100 to 120 minutes.”

According to Toronto-based research firm IDC Canada Ltd., as enterprises roll out Wi-Fi, wireless security is increasingly a top-of-mind priority among medium- and large-sized organizations in Canada.

“In less than one year, wireless security has moved from being viewed as important by a small number of organizations to a critical issue for nearly half of large organizations,” IDC said. “Medium-sized organizations are also beginning to take wireless security seriously.”

McLeod noted that regardless of wireless vendor, security will always be an ongoing concern. “We’re continuing to evolve how we are securing online connections…[and] providing a healthy balance between security and easy access.”

Overall, wireless allows for collaboration between students and faculty, McLeod said.

While he notes that it certainly is not the first organization to roll out a wireless blanket, he added that BCIT did a good job in choosing how to implement it. “Going with a pilot is the way to go.”

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