<iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-WLFXGWL" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">
Call us now at   1-216-777-2900

Case Study

University of Northern Iowa Fixes Campus-Wide Wi-Fi Performance Issues

Share

The Problem

Many institutions of higher learning, both public and private, struggle to keep pace with growing bandwidth and connectivity requirements amid limited technical resources and constrained budgets. The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) was no exception. They had only one network engineer focused on wireless, who could not be everywhere at once. Consequently transient Wi-Fi issues went undiagnosed, leaving the perception in certain high density areas that wireless performance was chronically poor.

 

The Solution

With the assistance of Aercor, a leading Wi-Fi professional services company headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, UNI implemented 7signal’s Sapphire Wi-Fi Performance Management System to capture the real-time data needed to address Wi-Fi performance and connectivity problems. Sapphire Eye units were installed in the student union, a couple of high-density classrooms and one dorm. UNI also engaged experts from 7signal to help analyze the performance data and optimize the school’s wireless network.

"By the time I could get there, the problem would have gone away"
Chris Alman
,
Network Engineer, UNI

The Results

The Sapphire solution relieved the pressure on UNI’s sole wireless network engineer to try to troubleshoot problems as they occurred. Instead he was able to use historical and real-time performance data enables UNI to focus on resolving the issues that would deliver maximum benefits. Sapphire also provided the data to support the business cases for tactical wireless upgrades. Thanks to 7signal, UNI has been able to address several severe performance and connectivity issues campus-wide and take steps to ensure that its infrastructure is capable of supporting a growing numbers of users and devices.

 

Information
to identify and prioritize critical issues
Automated
24/7 data collection that enables faster troubleshooting
Intuitive
reports make it easy to justify adds moves and changes
Improved
Wi-Fi performance and restored positive perception among students
"By the time I could get there, the problem would have gone away"
Chris Alman
,
Network Engineer, UNI