Cisco Access Points Make Up the World’s Largest 802.11ac Wave 2 Wireless Network

As one of China’s leading universities, the China University of Geosciences strives to make sure that they are at the forefront of the newest technology. The school sits on a campus that encompasses over one million square miles and they wanted to make sure that their students and staff had access to the most up-to-date wireless network.

Six years ago, the university called on Cisco to design and deploy a wireless network based on 802.11a/b/g—they were the first university in Wuhan to have this type of wireless network—but now they understood that the time was ripe for an upgrade.

Naturally, the university called on Cisco again.

The updated network was not based solely on wanting to have the most cutting-edge technology but on need. Since 2010, the use of the wireless network has grown exponentially. Whether its students and faculty checking their mobile devices, a university-wide BYOD programs or network applications such as the Internet of Things and video conferencing, the bottom line is that bandwidth consumption has risen. This makes an old network slow and frustrating to its users.

As part of the Wi-Fi upgrade, the university’s new wireless network employs 2,172 802.11ac Wave 2-compliant Cisco Aironet 1850 Access Points and two Cisco 8540 Wireless Controllers. This meant that China University of Geosciences has created the world’s largest 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless network. And not only is it the biggest network, but it’s also one of the fastest and most intelligent. Technologies such as MU-MIMO allow access points to pass data back and forth to multiple clients at the same time. The bandwidth is also larger too, meaning that more data (including video) can be shared over the network without causing bottlenecks.

The university also included Cisco’s other industry-leading software in the overall solution to get the most out of their new network. Applications such as Cisco Application Visibility and Control, VideoStream, High Density Experience and Connected Mobile Experiences all bring this new network up another level.

“The project has fully demonstrated the characteristics of wireless networks of being simple, convenient and fast,” said Zhang Feng, Director Network Center China University of Geosciences, Wuhan. “In short, making the university’s mobile network environment one of the best among universities in the world can better serve the university’s long-term goal of becoming a first-class university in earth science in the world.”

To read more about this case study, click here.