29 August 2008

Universities Take The Lead In 802.11n.

Universities, particularly in North America, have been early adopters of Wi-Fi and are now leading the charge towards 802.11n, according to a report.

802.11n is a standard of  WiFi LAN, subsequent to standards 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g. It is a protocol developed by the international non-profit Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

“Although current penetration of the higher education market is only 2.3%, that still represents a good rate of uptake for such a new, pre-standard technology,” explained ABI Research vice president and research director Stan Schatt.

The reasons for this are the same as those prompting higher education’s already rapid adoption of previous Wi-Fi technologies, according to the ABI Research report. These include the need to serve large numbers of users at once, the demands of on-campus security, students’ expectations, and innovative use of video in the curriculum. The latter qualification is especially important in light of 802.11n’s five-fold expansion in bandwidth compared to its predecessors.

“As video becomes an essential part of the academic experience, bandwidth video requirements and newer laptops (which increasingly will have 802.11n built in) mean that a marriage of convenience will occur between students’ needs to view video anywhere on campus and the ability of 802.11n-enabled laptops to handle the bandwidth requirements,” explained Schatt.

Duke University, University of Arizona, Carnegie Mellon University are amongst the universities in the US that have seen deployments.