Colleges and universities sometimes serve as test beds for technologies that later become the norm in enterprise IT. NetworkWorld's John Cox takes a look at initiatives underway at 10 institutions of higher education this fall to get a peek at what's coming. Cox found that wireless networks are becoming the connectivity option of choice on campus, while virtualization and cloud-based services are on the rise. With video traffic growing by leaps and bounds, upgrading bandwidth is also imperative.

More campuses are phasing out wall jacks as 802.11 becomes the students' preferred means of connecting. When Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., updated four dormitories, it deployed WLANs rather than rewiring the buildings, saving more than $100,000 in infrastructure costs, Cox reports. In a similar fashion, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh disengaged the 100 Mbps wired outlets in its dorms, having deployed WLAN technology for the entire campus.

Universities are confronting soaring demand for bandwidth as students come equipped with a variety of wireless devices as well as a penchant for online video. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Mass., and Morrisville State College in Morrisville, N.Y., both increased their bandwidth from 90 Mbps to 200 Mbps. North Texas University anticipates a need for 500 Mbps as students return this fall, having used between 300 Mbps and 400 Mbps last year.

For more:
- see John Cox's article at NetworkWorld

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