Unified Access network at Moravian College

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise has provided its Unified Access network technology to provide students and faculty staff with secure ‘anytime, anywhere’ access across the entire campus. The network enables all data, video and multimedia traffic – important elements for today’s higher education environment - to make use of a single secure network, and be accessed by any device without overloading IT with network management and support needs. The network capacity meets the needs of the college today and is prepared to support future expansion.

Founded in 1742, the private, co-educational Moravian College is America’s sixth-oldest college and the first to enroll women. Always a leading provider of opportunity, Moravian has recognised the importance technology plays in the lives of students, creating a stimulating education environment and an even playing field for students’ future opportunities through an innovative approach to both corporate and consumer technologies.

This vision led the college to launch an initiative, built on an all-Apple® device strategy, to provide each student with Apple laptops and tablets, along with a new network that supports connectivity everywhere on campus for students. The new initiative encourages a more collaborative, knowledge sharing environment designed for tailored and interactive learning.

With technology availability playing an important part in students’ choice of schools¹, Moravian College conducted a survey of students last year and found that many were unhappy with the performance of the institution’s existing network. The survey also revealed that existing network connections at Moravian were less than satisfactory, with connectivity dropping as students moved from one place to another location due to lack of coverage and capacity.

Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and channel partner Advance 2000 worked to design an integrated wired and wireless network. The result was a Unified Access environment tailored for the Moravian College campus that addresses this problem, simplifies the operations via automation and improved network management, and overall provide a better user experience.