Telecommunications Analysis: University Of Washington Centralized Wireless Access For The Seattle Campus
...Executive Summary
The University of Washington (UW) is a public research university located in Seattle, Washington, that serves more than 42,000 graduate and undergraduate students. One of the nation's leading research universities, the UW has ranked among the top 5 educational institutions in the nation for federal research funding for the last 30 years. In recent years, the UW has ranked first among public universities in the receipt of federal research grants and contracts.
UW's primary competitors are other public and private research universities that offer similar programs and educational outreach opportunities. Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) are a few examples.
Changing student demographics provide opportunities to gain market share of the higher education market, while funding issues are always a threat to market share and competitive advantage. The UW possesses strength in their research services and the distinguished UW faculty. Indecision to adopt new technologies can dilute market share and budget constraints can delay implementation or even cancel these critical improvements.
In 2001 and 2002, University leaders developed a set of interactive and interconnected technical advisory committees to provide guidance on various telecommunications issues. The TACs provide the first level of "go/no go" decisions for some proposed projects and are also heavily involved from start to finish for large or more complex projects.
An area of concern and the area of focus for this paper is the need for centrally controlled and managed wireless access for the main Seattle campus. Because of the increasing importance and demand for wireless networking, many departments were obtaining independent funding and deploying their own private wireless networks. What has...
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